


Destiny

by Shalheira



Category: Karneval
Genre: Adventure, M/M, Romance, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-02-09 15:45:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1988601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shalheira/pseuds/Shalheira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every citizen at the age of 16 must apply to one of the existing 2000 organizations. Gareki has lived in organization number 2000 for as long as he could remember and never expect to move from the area until a fateful encounter with a certain second ship captain. Eventual pairings</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AN: I appreciate all reviews and advise on how to make my writing better.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Karneval or any of it's characters, just my ideas

Two hundred years ago, the world was conquered by one country. The new king combined the world into one nation, but divided it into 2000 societies or organizations. The rich and prosperous organizations are those of the lower numbers while the poverty-stricken organization are those of the higher numbers.

At the age of 16, all of the citizen must apply to the organizations. Although they may apply, whether or not they are accepted is up the captains of each organization. The goal for most citizen's is to make into the lowest organization possible; however, that could mean leaving behind everything they once knew.

* * *

-BEEP BEEP-

The blaring sound of the alarm clock awoke a raven haired teenager from his sleep. Throwing his hand across his nightstand, he fumbled around till he hit the off button on his alarm clock. 'So annoying,' the boy thought. He hated having the wake up early every morning. Today, however, wasn't like every other morning, today was the day of the organization choosing and the day that will decided the rest of his life. Not that the boy seemed to care.

Getting out of bed he got dressed, pulling on black pants along with a black, one-sleeved undershirt and black gloves, threw on his long blue coat over the top, and slipped on some brown, lace-less shoes. Walking back over to his night stand, he grabbed his signature goggles and placed them on his head. Lastly, he grabbed his ID card which had a picture and the name Gareki on the front.

Stepping out of his house, Gareki looked around the neighborhood that he had lived in for as long as he could remember. Of course, being the number that his community was, the neighborhood that Gareki lived in was poverty-stricken. His "house" was nothing more than a half-rundown building with shattered windows and a piece of metal that served as a sad excuse for a door.

After the accident on the slave ship, he had ended up on the shore of the organization number 2000 area. Tsubaki had taken him in and cared for him along with the twins, Yotaka and Tsubame.

Gareki had moved out of their house some time ago and started living on his own. He hadn't seen the twins in over two years and curiously wondered what had happened to them. Since they were one year older than him, they had their organization choosing a year ago and he had no idea which one they had been accepted into. He hoped that it was a lower than this one so they didn't have to struggle to find food and shelter.

Gareki didn't expect to move up to a different organization number, after all, he's never done anything worth noticing. He was only going because he had to and he really didn't feel like having trouble with the government this time. He had been caught a few times stealing, but he was only left off with only a warning.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Gareki walked down the street in the direction of the train station that would take him to Central City where the event was being held. All the citizens that were currently sixteen, no matter what organization you are already in, had to go to Central City to be chosen for an organization.

After waiting nearly an hour for the train—which didn't do well to his already unpleasant mood—he was shoved into a cramped and over packed compartment. The ride was uncomfortable, with being squished between multiple people, and he was forced to stand the entire 45 minute train ride.

He was herded off the train with the rest of the passengers onto the train platform. A huge sign overhead read, "Welcome to Central City." Walking out of the station, Gareki noticed the large number of brightly colored booths that were lined up along every street, trying to sell souvenirs and food to the passersby. The first impression he got of the city was that it looked like a carnival.

Ignoring the tourist attractions, Gareki continued walking to the center of the town, taking little interest in anything. 'This is a complete waste of my time,' Gareki thought. 'All I need to do is swipe my card through the organization number 2000 and then I can go home. After all, there's no way I couldn't be accepted into the highest organization.' While Gareki was lost in his thoughts he didn't notice the fast approaching white haired boy until they collided into one another.

Gareki stumbled back but managed to catch himself before he fell, but the white haired boy, however, wasn't as well balanced and fell back, landing hard on his tail-bone. Gareki looked down at the young boy who was dressed in a plain white long sleeved shirt, dark blue shorts, and white tennis shoes.

"S-sorry," the boy stammered as he quickly got up, " I-I didn't hurt you did I?"

"Tsk, I'm fine, I'm not the one who ended up on the ground." replied Gareki, looking into the bright red eyes that lit up when he realized he didn't hurt the boy he had run into.

The white haired boy quickly nodded and ran around him,"Excuse me, I have to go."

'What's with that guy,' Gareki thought after the boy had run off. He decide to ignore the encounter and continued to the center which, Gareki saw as he approached, was packed with hundreds of people. The event area, which consisted of multiple streets and took up and area of about five miles, was blockaded off by large, silver metal gates.

"Welcome to the organization choosing," said a voice over a loud speaker. "Please keep in mind that whichever institution you become apart of at the end of the day will become your permanent residence. With that, you may now begin your search, good luck."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every citizen at the age of 16 must apply to one of the existing 2000 organizations. Gareki has lived in organization number 2000 for as long as he could remember and never expect to move from the area until a fateful encounter with a certain second ship captain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Let me know what you guys think about the story, I appreciate reviews. I promise this chapter is better than the other one xD  
> Disclaimer: I do not own Karneval

_"Welcome to the organization choosing," said a voice over a loud speaker. "Please keep in mind that whichever institution you become apart of at the end of the day will become your permanent residence. With that, you may now begin your search, good luck."_

The gates that had once blockaded off the center area were now pushed open, allowing the huge crowd of people to flow in. Gareki followed the crowed through the gates into the open area where the large group began to disperse, going to their desired sections. Each organization was represented by their own board, which was approximately 12 feet long. Spaced out evenly on each board were five card slots where, if you wished to apply, you would slide your card through, sending ones information to the organization captains. Each board was decorated, representing what each had to offer.

Starting off right next to the first entrance, since there were many entrances into the area, were the highest numbered organizations. The first to be seen was number 2000. The board itself was barely decorated since the organization didn't have much to offer. There were a few pictures of the better sections of the city—that didn't look completely rundown—with just a pain grey background. Although it was the highest number, the board had a long line of people applying. It was a wise idea to apply to the one organization that didn't refuse anyone, considering its rank, encase you couldn't get accepted into any other number.

Gareki waited in line for nearly half an hour before it was his turn. He walked up to the board and in one quick motion, he swiped his card through, sending his application electronically to the organization captain. As he walked away, he felt his cell phone vibrate, indicating that he had already been accepted. It wasn't surprising, since all citizens have to belong to an organization, the highest one is forced to accept all applications that apply.

Gareki glanced down at his cell phone to check the time and found that it was only 2 pm. He couldn't leave until all organizations had decided to accept or deny the candidates and the deadline wasn't until midnight. Letting out a sigh, Gareki decided to walk down toward the lower numbered areas, since he had ten hours to kill.

* * *

"Hey, Hirato, why don't we accept a new candidate this year," said a bored first ship captain.

"You know as well as I do that we can't just accept anyone because we want to," replied the man named Hirato. He was currently looking through the applications that had applied, and so far he had found nothing relevantly close to anyone meeting the requirements. Circus typically looked for candidates that had at least some experience in fighting and had scored goods remarks on it. They were also judged on personality and how well they might be in stressful situations. There had yet to be anyone applying that had any fighting experience at all. "From the looks of things, no one is going to be accepted this year."

Standing up from his chair, Hirato sent the holographic files to the first ship captain, named Tsukitachi, with a wave of his hand. "Continue looking through the applications and notify me if you find one that maybe accepted. I'm going to head down to the city and take a look around."

"W-wait a second! You can't just leave all the work to—" Before the first ship captain could finish Hirato had already vanished from the room, leaving only silence in his wake.

* * *

In the past six hours, Gareki had stopped and applied at twenty two different organizations to entertain himself but his patients was quickly running short. It was only 8 pm and he still had four more hours to go. It had become dark so the streets were illuminated by the street lights and the lights shinning off of the boards. Gareki sighed and looked around at his surroundings. He was currently standing next to the organization number 104. Compared to number 2000, this one had a bright blue background and multiple pictures of parts of a large looking city and what appeared to be high ranking people in it's society. The women in the pictures were dressed long dark colored dresses and and men were dressed in formal dress shirts with dark colored ties.

It looked like an easy place to live with having enough money to afford a nice apartment and having fancy dress clothes that you could wear whenever you want. Most people would jump at the chance to move up from a place in the ghetto area of number 2000 and into the semi-rich city of area 104 where you would never have to struggle to live. Districts like that, however, are the places where Gareki would feel suffocated and trapped in a repetitive lifestyle. Gareki would pick living in the ghettos over living in a stiff environments anytime. Not that he had to worry though, it wasn't like he would be picked to move to an organization like that anyway.

In the past couple of hours, Gareki's phone had gone off 3 times, indicating that he had also been accepted into three other organizations. He had yet to check which ones had accepted him, but that was something he could worry about later. He continued walking until he had reached the lowest two numbers. They each had the longest lines he had seen today.

Organization number two: Kafka. It was rumored that they did illegal genetic research and experimentation but it had yet to be proven. It was, however, widely known for their brilliant scientists and medical researchers. The organization took in, on average, two people each year that either went into the science or medical fields of study. Their board consisted of metallic silver background and was filled with pictures of some of their medical and science labs. One person in particular in the pictures caught Gareki's attention. He had light blue hair along with light blue eyes and was wearing black coat that contrasted strongly with the silver background of the board. He had an odd feeling about him but Gareki couldn't place what it was. He then turned his attention the other organization.

Organization number one: Circus. It is known to the public as a defense organization that works for the government and performs raids to capture criminals and solve crimes. Circus had its own rumors circling their actions. People say they hunt strange looking monsters and have even raided Kafka. The hate and suspicion between the two organizations was not a secret to the public. Circus has been looking for a way to expose Kafka's illegal genetic research for years but has never found enough proof to do so. The chances of getting into Circus was very slight considering the irregularity of the candidates they pick. The most recent candidates accepted was a girl from last year, and the other was a boy from six years earlier. Their board was splashed with multiple bright colors and had pictures of some of the Circus members on the front. One consisted of two girls, one with long blond hair pulled into pigtails and the other had long turquoise colored haired pulled into a ponytail. Another picture consisted of a boy who had short blond hair and a bandage on his cheek.

Gareki was tempted for a moment to apply to the two organizations but he had to consider whether he was willing to sacrifice his pride if he didn't get accepted. Deciding that he didn't have much to lose Gareki spent the next two hours waiting to send in his application. Gaerki checked the time and it read 10:30 pm. 'Great, now what am I suppose to do for the ne—' Gareki halted mid-thought when he heard a commotion up ahead.

* * *

Hirato had been walking around in the streets for nearly two hours now. He had taken Tsukumo down with him to help look for a possible candidate and they had split up to search. He was dressed in his usual black suit, black top hat and with his cane. Just as he was coming to the lower numbered area he heard a commotion up ahead. He ventured closer to hear exactly what was going on.

"Look what you did you punk! You messed up my clothes, now how are you going to pay for it?" said a large muscular looking man.

"I-I'm sorry, but I-I don't have any money on me," said a timid white haired boy.

"Then maybe I'm just going to have to beat it out of you," said the man as he picked up the young white haired boy by the front of his shirt. Hirato was about to step in when a raven haired boy stepped forward.

The young man in the blue coat reach around from behind the man and grabbed the wrist that was holding the white haired boy. "Why don't you go someplace where you might actually win a fight," the boy said.

* * *

"Why don't you go someplace where you might actually win a fight," Gareki said. He met the man's glare with a glare of his own. Gareki gripped the man's wrist hard enough that it forced him to release the white haired boy. The man turned to him and pulled his wrist free from Gareki's grip before taking a few steps back to put space between them. He reached his hand around and grabbed the gun that was his pack pocket. Gareki saw his movement and reached around to grab his own gun that he carried. The man fired one bullet directly at Gareki's chest. At that moment, Gareki let his reflexes take over and aimed the gun to match the projectile of the man's and fired his own bullet. The two bullets collided midair, flattening from the equal force exerted from both sides.

The people around them seemed to pause for a moment, not able to believe what had just occurred. Gareki took that moment of confusion to kick the gun from the man's hand, disarming him, and hold his gun toward him. "That's quite enough, anymore shots fired and you'll both be put under arrest," a man dressed in a black suit stepped forward with a look that said he was not to be messed with.

The man tsked before turning his back and walking away. Gareki sighed and returned his gun to his back pocket and looked toward the boy who was still sitting on the ground in shock. Gareki rubbed the back of his head before extending a hand to the boy. "Are you OK?" he asked.

"I-I'm alright, thank you!" the boy replied with a smile lighting up his face as he took Gareki's hand. "My name is Nai!"

"Gareki," he replied pulling the boy up.

"That's quite the aim you got there," said the black dressed man startling Gareki who had almost forgot the man was there. "I am Hirato, second ship captain of the organization Circus."


	3. Chapter 3

_"That's quite the aim you got there," said the black dressed man startling Gareki who had almost forgot the man was there. "I am Hirato, second ship captain of the organization Circus."_

_'Circus? Great if Circus is interested in us it can't be good,'_ Gareki thought as he eyed Hirato suspiciously. _'What's a captain doing here anyway?'_

"I must ask that you do not use your gun in a public vicinity," Hirato said coolly to Gareki.

"What? But if I hadn't, he would have—"

"If you will excuse me I have business I need to attend to." Hirato continued talking as if Gareki hadn't spoken. "I will be seeing you two soon." With that, Hirato vanished into the crowed of passersby.

"Soon?!"

* * *

Hirato walked into the command area aboard the first ship where first ship captain Tsukitachi sat in a chair with his head down on the dash board. Hirato sighed and walked over to the sleeping captain. Bending down next to him he asked, "Find any candidates?" Tsukitachi bolted upright at hearing the second ship captain speak.

"N-No, not yet! But I'm still looking!" Tsukitachi exclaimed, embarrassed that he had been caught sleeping on the job. Soon after Hirato had left, Tsukitachi had continued looking at the files but quickly got bored and ended up falling asleep. He glanced at the time, _'Guess I've been asleep for longer than I thought.'_

"While you're at it, I want to look up a couple files for me under the names Gareki and Nai," Hirato said as he moved to stand behind Tsukitachi's chair. Tsukitachi did as he was asked and pulled up the two files. The file under the name Gareki contained a picture of the boy he had met earlier but hardly anything else. It had his first name, age, and a small description of him. Likewise, Nai's file was about the same, containing only the basic information.

"Can I ask why you wanted to see their files?" Tsukitachi asked. If he had looked at the files when they applied, he wouldn't have given them a second thought, after all, there was nothing remarkable about the teenagers that would have caught his attention.

"I think we may have just found this year's candidates." Hirato said with a grin. He pulled out his cell phone a dialed a certain blond haired lieutenants number. "Yogi, it's me. I need you to do something for me."

* * *

Figuring that _soon_ can't be good, Gareki didn't want to stick around and wait for the captain to return so he began walking to put as much distance between him and the Circus area as possible. It was ten minutes to midnight and after he hears the chime of the large area clock he can go home and forget this day ever happened. After walking nearly a mile of random turns and streets he still sensed the boy following him. "Hey, why do you keep following me? Don't you have somewhere you need to be?" Gareki was getting annoyed at being followed around by a lost puppy.

"U-Um Gareki's the nicest person I met today and I was hoping to go where Gareki goes," Nai said jogging to keep up with him.

_'Great, doesn't this kid know anything about following strangers?'_ Gareki thought with a sigh as he turned to the kid. "Look Nai—" Gareki was intercepted by the chime of the clock, indicating that it was midnight. At the same time the chime rang, his phone vibrated twice indicating he had two new accepted applications. Gareki pulled out his phone and looked at the messages. One text read, "Congratulations, you have been accepted into Kafka." The other read, "Congratulations, you have been accepted into Circus." _'What?! I've been accepted?'_ Gareki thought as he looked over at Nai who was also checking his phone.

"Did Gareki get accepted into Circus too?" Nai asked with a bright smile.

_'So he got accepted too?'_ Gareki couldn't shake the feeling that something was up with that captain they had met earlier.

Now he had decide if he wanted to go to Kafka, Circus or to return home. His current life was a struggle, but that is all that he has known his entire life. Although it was unpleasant, he was familiar with the environment and wasn't sure if he wanted to leave that behind. On the other hand, he had just been accepted into the top two organizations in the world and this was a once in a lifetime chance. For a moment he had considered going to Kafka but was it wise to join the enemy of Circus? He was also suspicious as to why he had been accepted into Kafka, he hasn't even met anyone from that organization and he doubted his application was good enough to get their attention.

The people in the street began clearing away, going to the organizations they had been accepted into. Glancing over at Nai, Gareki knew he didn't have much of a choice now. Nai would follow him no matter where he went and he really didn't feel like taking care of a kid in the 2000 district. _'Now where do we...'_

"Um are you Gareki and Nai?" said a slightly high voice behind them. Gareki turned around and to look at the person who had spoke to them. His eyes rested on a young blond haired male who was wearing a long sleeved light yellow shirt that was ripped at the bottom, green pants and brown boots that nearly went up to his knees.

"Who's asking?" Gareki said, not willing to give out information unless he knew who he was talking to.

"My name is Yogi and I am the lieutenant of the second ship, I'm here to pick up a Gareki and Nai and bring them with me," Yogi said with a smile.

"Circus?!" exclaimed an unknown voice. "You mean to tell me that these kids got accepted into Circus and I didn't?" The trio turned to see a group of men approaching them. The in the front, whom they assumed had just spoken, had his fists clutched in anger.

"I-I'm sorry but Hirato doesn't think you meet the requirements," Yogi said attempting, and failing, to calm the man down.

"Why don't you stop whining like a child and go to the organization that was willing to let someone like you join," Gareki said coolly. The guy stepped closer, easily towering over the raven haired teenager.

"I could crush a punk like you with one hand tied behind my back," the man said, grabbing Gareki by the front of his shirt.

"U-Um please no fighting! Can't we all just get along here?" Nai said trying to step between the two.

"Don't bother Nai, this guys probably been beaten so many time he doesn't know when to stay down." Gareki said. He saw the man's movement when it started. The man had raised his fist back and was bringing it down to his face but before Gareki could react, the man was already on the ground, pinned beneath Yogi.

"Fighting is not allowed here, those who insist on fighting will be put under arrest." Yogi said keeping the man in a hold. The rest of the guys who had come with their "Leader" moved to attack Yogi but in less than thirty seconds, all men were down on the ground. Gareki watched in amazement as Yogi took down each person with ease not even breaking a sweat. Maybe Circus was the right organization to join after all. "What a relief, I'm glad that's over. I get so nervous every time I have to fight," Yogi said breathing out a sigh of relief. "I'll send someone down to pick these guys up later but for now will you two come with me?"

Before either Gareki or Nai could respond Yogi had wrapped an arm around their waist and flew into the air. "Wow, amazing!" Nai exclaimed as they climbed higher and higher. Gareki looked up and saw the blue bottom of the famous Circus ship. As they were flying closer, Gareki noticed there was no opening on the bottom and it looked like they were going to crash into it. Gareki subconsciously gripped tightly onto Yogi and braced himself for the collision, but it never came. Instead, they came into the entrance hall of the second ship.

"Don't worry Gareki, I wouldn't let you get hurt," Yogi said smiling at him. Gareki looked away to hide his embarrassment. "I'm home!"

"Welcome back, Welcome back," the sheep exclaimed.

"You two say it too," Yogi told them.

"I'm home!" Nai said to the sheep.

"I'm home..." Gareki said as well. _'What a weird saying.'_

"Voice recognition confirmed," the sheep reply.

* * *

It was late in the evening and Gareki and Nai were sitting across from Hirato on the couches in his office. After Yogi had finished giving them a very thorough tour of the ship, they had been led to Hirato's office. The office consisted of a dark wood desk that sat in front of huge ceiling to floor windows that took up the entire wall. Books lined the two other walls and in the middle of the room were the two couches that the three people in the room now occupied.

"I'm glad that you two decided to join Circus," Hirato said, breaking the silence that had descended on the room.

"Tsk, not that you gave us much choice," Gareki mumbled to himself. _'Whether we wanted to come or not that blonde haired weirdo was going to bring us anyway.'_

"As you know, Circus is a defense organization that serves the government. We perform the jobs that the police and government officials can not," Hirato explained, ignoring Gareki's earlier statement. "All Circus members wear a Circus I.D. that allows them certain abilities such as flying, which you witnessed earlier. Before either of you two become official fighters of Circus you must complete your training and therefore will not participate in raids until then. You will learn more about Circus the longer you spend on the ship, there is far too much to teach you right now. Tomorrow you two have a physical with our doctor Akari and begin your training. For now, Yogi will show you to your rooms."

Yogi entered through the door as if he had been waiting for a signal. "Gareki, Nai, this way!" Yogi said a little too excitedly. As the two walked out, Gareki lingered behind.

"Hirato, can I ask something?" Gareki asked a little unsure.

"Yes what is it," Hirato replied turning his full attention to the raven haired teen.

"Why exactly did you accept us? There was nothing on my application that should have been interesting to you and Nai certainly doesn't know how to fight."

Hirato smiled as he studied the teen. "We all have our reasons Gareki, you'll find that out soon." The statement was final and told Gareki that wasn't going to get anymore information out of the captain so he nodded his head and left. Yogi and Nai were waiting for him when he left the room and they began walking down the maze of hallways. Yogi and Nai talked the entire time but Gareki didn't care to join their conversation.

They reached the area where their rooms were. Gareki's room was right next to Nai's room. Because they were now members of Circus, they each received their own rooms. "Um...Lets see...the cafeteria is down the hall to the right, the training area is to the left and each room has it's own bathroom so you guy's should be set. My room is only three doors down so come to my room if you need anything or get lonely," Yogi said cheerfully to them.

Gareki rolled his eyes and walked into his room shutting the door. The clock over on the side read 2:30 am and Gareki realized how exhausted he was. Throwing his coat onto the chair that was sitting next to the desk in the room, Gareki fell onto his bed, still fully clothed. He closed his eyes, falling to sleep almost instantly _. 'Tomorrow's going to be long day'_


	4. Chapter 4

_Gareki rolled his eyes and walked into his room shutting the door. The clock over on the side read 2:30 am and Gareki realized how exhausted he was. Throwing his coat onto the chair that was sitting next to the desk in the room, Gareki fell onto his bed, still fully clothed. He closed his eyes, falling to sleep almost instantly. 'Tomorrow's going to be long day'_

"Time to get up, Baa." Gareki was awoken when a sheep came into his room. He rolled over onto his side and glared at the sheep standing beside his bed. What he wouldn't give right now to smash that sheep into pieces. "Report to the cafeteria for breakfast, Baa." With that the sheep walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Gareki hauled himself out of bed and looked at the clock on his nightstand, it read 7 am. _'It's too damn early,'_ Gareki thought as he wiped away the sleepiness from his tired eyes. He looked around his unfamiliar room and noticed that there were a new set clothes folded neatly on his desk. They were identical to the ones he had been wearing the previous day, even down to the last stitch. Picking up the clothes he walked into the bathroom that was connected to his room. After a quick glance around Gareki concluded that the bathroom contained all the necessities he would need and proceeded to take a shower.

It was the nicest shower Gareki had ever taken and he couldn't help but linger in it a little longer than necessary. He regrettably had to leave and head down to the cafeteria for breakfast _. 'Lets see, I believe he said down the hall to the right..'_ Gareki thought as he ventured out of his room. Following his remembered directions he came upon a large room that contained seven long tables, many ceiling to floor windows and long buffet table holding an incomprehensible number of different foods.

Gareki walked over to the buffet table and pick out a few foods that he _did_ recognize since he didn't feel like being adventurous today. "Gareki! Over here!" yelled a overly cheerful voice for the early morning. He looked over and met the blond haired man's eyes. Even though he really didn't want to he forced himself to walk over and sit next to the cheerful idiot and Nai.

"Did you sleep well last night Gareki?" Nai asked as he continued to eat his food.

"Guess so," Gareki replied nonchalantly. Truth be told, last night was the best night that Gareki had ever had. He had fallen into the most peaceful sleep after laying down on the bed and didn't wake up once in the night, unless you count that aggravating sheep from this morning. Gareki ate the rest of his meal in silence as he listened to Yogi and Nai talk about what animal they thought was cutest.

* * *

After breakfast, Yogi showed them to the medical examination room where they waited for Akari. As soon as Akari came in, Yogi stuttered out a quick goodbye and bolted from the room. Gareki was led to a bed where Akari performed a normal check up that only took about five minutes. When he was done he hopped off the bed. For the first time, he noticed that another figure was standing in the room, leaning against the wall next to the door. The person had short black hair and was wearing a long, black sleeved shirt with a purple tie, grey pants and black boots that went up nearly to his knees. To top it off, he was wearing black framed glasses that covered his golden eyes. "Who are you?" Gareki asked.

"My name is Jiki and from today on I have been assigned to be your trainer," the man replied assessing him. "Since you're cleared from you examination you can follow me to the training area." The man named Jiki walked out of the room, not even checking if the raven haired teen was following.

* * *

Gareki was currently standing in the largest room he had ever seen. The ceiling had to be twice as high as the one in the cafeteria and the width was three times as long. The room itself was pretty bare containing only large doors that led to unknown rooms. Gareki had discarded his coat a while ago to give himself more mobility since he didn't even know what kind of "training" he was going to receive. Jiki had disappeared a while ago into one of the side rooms and had told him to wait in here.

Jiki peaked his head around the door of the room he had disappeared into and asked, "You said you prefer using gun's or ranged weapons right?"

"Yeah," Gareki said. Jiki threw something through the air at him and he easily caught it. Glancing down at what he had caught he saw it was a well crafted black hand gun that had purple intricate designs and the Circus logo on it's side.

"If you're going to fight Varuga you're going to need special weapons," Jiki said as he walked out of the room toward Gareki. "Sure you could use your usual gun but only if you can shoot it ten times before it kills you. These guns are specifically designed to destroy Varuga on impact. Moving on to training, since I don't know how much experience you have we are just going to start off with target practice."

 _'Are you kidding me?'_ Gareki thought as Jiki went over to the control room. _'This is a complete waste of my time.'_

"Start in the center of the room and shoot at the targets as they come up," Jiki said over the loud speaker. Gareki reluctantly did as he was told and began to shoot at the rapidly appearing targets around the room. He was momentarily amazed by the power of gun, since when he shot, the target exploded into pieces. By the end of the first round Gareki had a perfect score of 100/100.

"Well it's better than what I expected, we're going to try moving targets now." With that the targets reappeared but were moving at fast speeds. By the end of the second round Gareki had an almost perfect score of 96/100. "Now that that's out of the way, have you ever seen a Varuga?" Jiki came out of the control room and walked toward Gareki.

"No but I have heard of them," Gareki said turning toward Jiki.

"We have one here that's used for training and I would like for you to experience what fighting a Varuga would be like." With that Jiki stepped back and used a remote control to open one of the large doors in the room.

 _'It can't be that hard,'_ Gareki thought confidently as he aimed his gun at the door, waiting for the Varuga to appear. It was silent only for a moment before the creature leaped out of it's cage and ran toward him. The Varuga easily evaded the shots that were fired at him and moved rapidly toward the shooter. Gareki was barely able to evade the first attack but in a matter of seconds, he was hit from behind and sent flying to the other end of the room. Gareki hit the floor hard and slid a good ten meters before his back connected with the wall. Stars danced in front of his vision and he head was spinning from the impact. By the time Gareki was able to sit up, Jiki had already restrained the Varuga and returned it to it's cage.

"Well, you lasted longer than Yogi did his first time."

* * *

Gareki was walking back to his room from training that day extremely sore. After the Varuga attack he had to learn hand to hand combat as well as more shooting techniques. It was already late in the evening and Gareki wanted to get more sleep before having another tortuous day with Jiki. He briefly wondered what kind of training Nai went through that day since he hadn't seen him since breakfast.

"The results that came back declared that Nai isn't human," said a hushed voice from a room that he walked by. Gareki stopped at hearing Nai's name and backtracked to the door. The door was left cracked open letting the sound float out. He peaked in through the crack to reveal Hirato's office. Hirato was sitting on one of the couches and Akari was sitting across from him on the other. "To be more exact he is part of a species known as Niji. Judging by the DNA work that was done on him I would say Kafka was the one that made him human."

"So what you're suggesting to me is that Nai could also be a spy?" Hirato casually asked.

"We can't rule out that possibility," Akari said seriously. "When they made him human they could have wired his brain so they can have mental contact and he could feed them information."

_'Nai's not human and he's a spy?'_


	5. Chapter 5

_'Nai's not human and he's a spy?'_

Gareki backed quietly away from the door, as to not be heard, and hurried back to his room. Once he was safely inside he closed the door and leaned against it, breathing out a sigh. Was Nai really as doctor Akari thought? Could such an innocent child be a device to destroy Circus? Was Nai doing this intentionally? Gareki thought about the questions throughout the night and didn't fall asleep until the early hours of the morning.

"Time to get up, Baa" said a sheep that looked exactly like the one from the other day. Heck, they all looked liked the one from the other day. Gareki felt so tired that he couldn't even muster the strength to be mad at the little thing. His body felt three times worse than last night. Sure he was considered fit due to living in the 2000 district where you had to fight to live every day but the training he went through yesterday was brutal. Jiki showed no mercy in kicking his ass and expect him to be ready for today. "Report to the cafeteria for breakfast, Baa." The sheep turned around and walked out, leaving a half-awake Gareki still laying on the bed.

* * *

Gareki grabbed pancakes and eggs from the buffet table and headed over to the table where Nai and Yogi were waving him down. The sight of Nai made Gareki pause for moment as he remembered what he had overheard last night.

_"So what you're suggesting to me is that Nai could also be a spy?" Hirato casually asked._

_"We can't rule out that possibility," Akari said seriously. "When they made him human they could have wired his brain so they can have mental contact and he could feed them information."_

Taking a good look the niji, Gareki saw how his eyes lit up when he talked, the natural smile that spread across his face when he listened and the way his head tilt when he was trying to understand something. Gareki smiled to himself _, 'What was I thinking, I'll decide on my own if Nai is a spy or not. Who cares how he was made, it's how he is now that counts.'_ He walked over and sat down next to the two "kids."

* * *

"Oof—" The wind was knocked out of Gareki as his back collided with the floor for the twentieth time that day. They were only two hours into training and Gareki was getting his ass handed to him in hand to hand combat yet again. Slowly pushing himself into a sitting position, he took a deep breath into his lungs that were demanding some much needed oxygen. He had always considered himself a decent fighter but against a trained member of Circus, he might as well be doing nothing.

"How many times must I tell you to keep your stance otherwise you'll end up as you are now," Jiki said, quickly losing his patients. "I even gave you the order in which I would attack you and you still refuse to listen." He glared at Gareki and was met with an equal glare back. "Let's try it again and this time—"

"All Circus fighters please report to meeting room A. Repeat, all Circus fighters please report to meeting room A, " said a voice over the loud speaker.

Jiki sighed, "Well I guess that ends today's training, looks like we there's going to be another raid. Feel free to continue practicing. Hopefully tomorrow will have better results than today." Jiki mumbled the last part to himself as he walked out the training room door.

* * *

Gareki walked back to his room after spending a long day practicing. Jiki had left around ten in the morning, leaving Gareki to freely practice on his own. He had divided his time between practicing shooting techniques and practicing his stances for hand to hand combat. He went into his room and closed the door behind him before falling onto the bed, feeling just as sore as yesterday. It was already 9 pm and strangely Gareki didn't feel tired.

The Circus members had left for the raid at noon that day, leaving only Nai, Gareki and the sheep aboard the ship. Yogi had told him that they would be back no later than two hours but it was already nine o'clock and they still had yet to return. He couldn't help but wonder why it was taking them so long. As he was thinking there was a soft knock on his door.

Gareki got up and opened his door. "Nai?"

"Um, could I come in? I was feeling lonely and Yogi isn't here so I thought I could talk to Gareki..." the shy niji said. Gareki sighed but stepped aside to let him in. Nai perked up and ran into the room, jumping onto the bed. Gareki walked over and sat down next to Nai on the bottom of the bed. "I-I'm kind of worried about Yogi, Tsukumo and the others. I wish they would come back already..."

"There's nothing to worry about, there is a reason why Circus is the number one organization," Gareki replied, easily hiding the fact that he too was worried. Admitting to the fact that it was unnatural for them to be gone this long would only worry Nai further, so he kept his thoughts to himself.

Nai spent the next few hours in Gareki's rooming talking about nothing in particular. Once it reached 11 pm Gareki decided it was time to get to bed. "Alright Nai let's get some sleep, you should head back to your room."

"Ok," Nai said as he hopped off the bed. He went to the door and watched Nai go into his room and shut the door. Just as he was about go back into his own room a movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. As far as he knew, him and Nai were the only ones on the ship and that shadow was far too tall to be one of the sheep.

Walking down the hall where the shadow had disappeared Gareki stopped one of the sheep that were walking by. "Hey, are there any other people on this ship besides me and Nai?"

"No, Gareki and Nai are the only Circus members aboard the ship," the sheep replied.

 _'So who was that then?'_ Gareki thought as he continued down the hallway. Once he reached the end, he saw the shadow once again and chased it. After taking many turns Gareki ended up almost back at his own room. _'It's like I took one big circle.'_ Gareki paused a moment to catch his breath and looked around _. 'The only thing that is of interest down this way would be...Nai's room!'_

* * *

Nai walked back into his room and sat down on the bed. Grabbing his pillow off the top of the bed he hugged it tightly to his chest _. 'I wish I could sleep in Garek's room but I know I will just bother him,'_ Nai thought as he hugged the pillow tighter. Nai was about to lay down and go to sleep when he heard his door open.

"Gareki...?" Nai said as he turned toward the door.

"Hello Nai, do you remember me?" said a very familiar voice that belonged to the person he held most dear. Nai looked up at the person who was standing in his doorway. His light blue hair fell over a white bandage that was wrapped around his head and his blue eyes stared intently at Nai.

"Karoku?"


	6. Chapter 6

_"Karoku?"_

"Nai," Karoku said softly to the niji as he walked into the room, closing the door behind him. Nai sat momentarily stunned on the bed and watched him with big eyes before jumping up and meeting him in the middle of the room. Nai wrapped his arms tightly around Karoku who in return gently placed his arms around Nai. "Nai," Karoku continued, "do you remember why I sent you to Circus?"

"Karoku sent me to Circus?" Nai raked his brain to remember but his mind only drew up blank.

"Yes, and you did well getting in, but I need you to come back with me." Karoku knelt down in front of the niji looking deep into his eyes.

"B-But why did Karoku send me to Circus?" Nai asked. He was getting more and more confused the further this conversation was going.

"I needed you to gather information for me and you followed my directions well but now it's time to go home." Karoku ruffled the hair on Nai's head before standing back up. Karoku opened his mouth to speak again but then he stopped, lips forming into a smirk. He instead turned toward the door. "Gareki you can come in, I would like to speak with you as well."

* * *

Gareki sprinted down the hall, stopping only when he reached Nai's room. Grabbing the handle, he was about open the door when he heard talking coming from inside.

"B-But why did Karoku send me to Circus?" Nai asked from behind the door.

 _'Karoku? Who's that?'_ Gareki thought as he let go of the door handle and instead pressed his ear to the door.

"I needed you to gather information for me and you followed my directions well but now it's time to go home." Karoku replied. There was a moment of silence and Gareki strained to hear anything else they were going to say. "Gareki you can come in, I would like to speak with you as well."

 _'Crap! How did he—'_ The door flew open and Gareki stumbled inside, catching himself before he did an ungraceful faceplant on the floor. Looking up, his eyes met a pair of light blue ones. _'Wait a minute, where have I seen him before?'_

"Hello Gareki, I believe this is the first time we have met. My name is Karoku Arumerita, I am the captain of the Kafka organization." Karoku said addressing the raven haired teenager. Gareki's eyes widened as he remembered the poster back in Central City. The man before him looked exactly the same as the one on the poster, minus the bandage. The unnerving feeling he had gotten from the poster didn't even compare to the feeling he was getting from the blue haired man now.

When Gareki didn't respond Karoku continued, "I am disappointed that you didn't accept the offer to join Kafka. To be more precise that is why I came to talk to you. However, I think that we need to have a more private setting. If you wish to know more then follow me." With a wave of his hand, Karoku created what appeared to be portal of light. Grabbing Nai's hand, he walked into the portal, confident that Gareki would follow since he had Nai.

Gareki reluctantly followed the two into the portal, not wanting to leave Nai with a strange person like him. When the light died down he looked at his surroundings and found that they were no longer on the Circus ship but instead in an open field that stretched for miles. The blue sky stretched overhead and a light breeze blew through the air.

"Where are we?" Gareki asked, watching Karoku suspiciously. Karoku was standing about ten feet from him with Nai by his side.

"We're in my world," Karoku said. "I created it so only certain people can enter but we can talk about that later. The reason I am here is because I want you to come to Kafka with me and Nai."

"Then tell me," Gareki replied without missing a beat, "why would Kafka be interested in a 2000 district citizen? I don't remember doing anything to gain the attention of Kafka."

"You didn't need to gain Kafka's attention Gareki, you already had it," Karoku replied. "Did you ever wonder why you were the only one who was able to survive the ship sinking six years ago? It wasn't because of luck but because you willed yourself not to die. You created a world, much like how I created mine, and slipped into that world during the attack. I was able to notice the slight shift within the dimensional walls that signified that a new world was created. I had sent Tsubaki to find who it was that created the new world and she found you."

Gareki's eyes widened at the mention of Tsubaki's name _. 'So Tsubaki worked for Kafka?'_ "So why didn't Tsubaki turn me into Kafka?"

"She grew to attached since you reminded her of her own two siblings and refused to hand you over. I wasn't worried though, you would have to step forward eventually." Karoku spoke confidently and easily, as if he already had known how this conversation would go.

Karoku took a step forward, closing the space between him and Gareki and lengthening it between him and Nai. "It's a rare ability to be able to create worlds but one thing that I have never seen before is how you can travel to other worlds as well. No other person besides me and Nai should be able to enter my world but yet here you stand, as if it's perfectly normal."

Offering a hand to Gareki Karoku continued, "Come to Kafka Gareki, I can teach you how to create and travel to other worlds. Kafka can use your ability to the fullest, your time is only wasted in Circus." Karoku smiled at Gareki's uncertain look but knew he shouldn't press further today. "No need to answer right away, I'll give you some time to think about it. Next time we meet though, I'll expect you to have your answer ready."

Karoku walked back over to Nai. "Come along Nai, lets get going."

"U-Um, can I stay with Gareki? I-I don't want to leave Gareki," Nai said uncertainly. He felt unsure about this "new" Karoku, he didn't feel the same as he used to. Nai really didn't want to leave but he didn't want to make Karoku angry either.

Karoku studied the niji before the corners of his mouth moved into a slight smile. "That's fine Nai, I'll be seeing you soon as well then."

Karoku disappeared while the world around them turned into blackness. The butterflies that had been flying around burst into sparkles of light. Gareki blinked a few times and the next thing he knew he was back to standing in Nai's room, as if the past half an hour didn't occur. After a few moments of silence Gareki opened his mouth to ask Nai if Karoku had really been there but immediately shut it when the door burst open and the blond haired idiot, along with Tsukumo, walked into the room.

"Nai! Gareki! We're home!" Yogi quickly went over and wrapped his arms around Gareki and Nai, enveloping them into a tight hug. "I'm sorry it took so long, I hope you two didn't get lonely while we were away." Yogi nearly cried his apology as he hugged them tighter.

"Get off!" Gareki yelled as he tried to push Yogi away from him. The blond's over-emotional personality was only adding to his increasing headache. Gareki pinched the bridge of his nose trying to stop the oncoming headache but it didn't seem to be working. He walked out of the room to let Nai deal with the two Circus fighters and decided to head to his own room.

Gareki stopped in front of his door but before he opened it he changed his mind. Now would be the best time to demand some answers from from the four-eyed captain since everyone else was busy at the moment. Walking down the deserted halls, Gareki came to a halt outside of Hirato's office. The light inside was still on, indicating that the captain was still working. Gareki knocked on the door and entered when he was given the OK.

"Is there something I can help you with Gareki?" Hirato asked pleasantly from behind the desk he was sitting at.

"You knew didn't you, that's why you accepted me into Circus. You knew about my ability." Gareki watched Hirato for any sign of surprise but the captain kept a neutral face.

"It's true that I did discover your ability but that was not until you met with Akari," Hirato said as he leaned forward on the desk, reading all to well, by the expression on his face, that Gareki was upset that he had withheld this information. "The reason I didn't say anything, is not because I didn't want you to know, but because I didn't know myself. I have been looking into it but I wasn't going to tell you until I could answer your questions. May I ask how you came to know this information?"

Gareki sighed as he put his hands into his pockets. "I met with a man named Karoku."

"Karoku?" Hirato was well aware of who this man was and wasn't to happy about finding out that he had met with Gareki. "When did this happen?"

"When you were on your raid this evening," Gareki stated, " your security didn't do much to keep him out though."

"I see thank you for telling me. You should head back and get some sleep now, you still have training tomorrow." The tone in Hirato's voice said that the conversation had ended. Gareki wanted to argue and say he still had questions that needed to be answered but he knew Hirato won't say anything else on the subject. Gareki left the office and headed back to his own room.

* * *

"Time to get up, Baa" Gareki moaned and rolled over onto his side, facing away from the sheep. Shoving a pillow over his head to block out the noise Gareki decided he wasn't going to get up this morning and would instead spend the rest of the day in bed. Before he could drift back to sleep something clamped down on his ankle, yanking him out of bed. His back landed on the cold floor and his vision momentarily spun at the sudden wake up call. "Report to the cafeteria for breakfast, Baa." Once Gareki could see straight he sent a glare after the sheep as it walked out.

Getting up off the floor Gareki walked into the bathroom to start his usual routine. After brushing his teeth he took a shower, got dressed and then headed down to breakfast. Not feeling very hungry this morning, Gareki just grabbed a bagel from the buffet table and automatically walked over to where Nai, Yogi and now Tsukumo were sitting.

* * *

-SMACK-

Gareki stumbled back from the fist that had just collided with his face. Rubbing his sore jaw, he glared at Jiki.

"Didn't you practice at all yesterday? You seem worse than before." Jiki sighed as he looked at the Circus trainee. Yes, Gareki had practiced but he couldn't seem to bring his mind to concentrate on the fight. His mind kept flickering back to the conversation he had had with Karoku earlier. _'Create and travel to different worlds, huh?'_ Jiki snapped his fingers in front of Gareki's face successfully bringing him out of his stupor. "I said lets go again."

Gareki blinked for a moment, trying to figure out what he was talking about, before he nodded and got into his fighting stance. Just as he was about to attack Jiki the door to the training room opened and Hirato walked in.

"Hirato, is there something you need?" Jiki turned to his superior, losing his stance.

"Yes," Hirato replied as he turned to address Gareki, "we have stopped over a town and I thought you and Nai should go walk around a bit. After all, it must be quite tiring with being stuck in the ship all the time." Jiki looked like he wanted to dissagree but one look from the captain shut him up.

"Uh ok," Gareki was a bit unsure as to what Hirato's motives were but agreed anyway, even though he didn't think he had much choice to begin with.

"Yay! Gareki's coming!" Yogi ran into the room, wrapping his arm around Gareki. Pushing his arm off, Gareki walked over to the door where Nai and Tsukumo were waiting.

"Wait a sec, take this with you just incase. Just don't shoot anyone with it." Jiki said as he tossed the gun Gareki had been training with over to him. Catching the gun easily Gareki tsked at his statement.

Yogi ran over to the three, "Let's go!"


	7. Chapter 7

_"Let's go!"_

As soon as the four left the room Jiki turned to the captain. "So what's the real reason for the sudden field trip? We've stopped over towns before and you didn't say anything about needing to take a break so don't give me the same excuse you gave Gareki."

Hirato chuckled at Jiki's suspicion. "Why don't you go down as well, it's good to get out often," was his only reply. He walked out of the room swiftly, not giving Jiki the opportunity to ask more questions.

Hirato went back to the control room and accessed the city's street cameras. The four kids appeared on one of the cameras; they were currently boarding a bus and no doubt heading toward Yogi's favorite store.

"That's cruel you know, using them as bait," Tsukitachi said as he entered the room. This wasn't the first time Hirato's used these tactics, granted no one has ever gotten hurt since they were all well-trained Circus members, but this time they had two new and barley trained fighters.

Hirato only smiled in response, sitting back casually and completely unfazed to watch the events unfold. "Yes, but they are perfectly safe," he replied, "and that is also why you and your ship are here, I have no doubt that Kafka will be making an appearance today. I assume you are aware of what you will need to do when they come?"

Tsukitachi smiled at his friend as he sat down in the chair next to him, leaning back comfortably against the chair's back. "Come on, I'm not that unreliable, I already know what you need me to do."

"So you are set up on the North side of the city, ready to cover the West if need be?" Hirato asked.

"...yes..." the first ship captain mentally facepalmed. Whipping out his phone he sent a message to Iva telling her to head to the Northern area of the city and to spread the word to other first ship members.

Hirato casted a quick glance at the other captain and smirked knowingly.

* * *

Gareki sighed as he glanced out the window of the city bus they were taking. Yogi had gotten excited and wanted to show them his favorite shop, hence why they were currently riding the bus across town. It was about noon by now and the sun was straight above them, leaving as little shade as possible. The temperature that day was extremely hot, making visible heat waves rise off of the road.

Nai was currently sitting next to him, on his right, while Yogi and Tsukumo sat behind them. He glanced over at Nai. They haven't spoken much in the past few days with all their training and the Karoku incident. Come to think of it, he still hadn't asked Nai about how his training was going.

"Nai," Gareki said, getting the niji's attention, "how has your training been going?" Gareki propped his elbow on the edge of the window and rested his head on his hand.

"Um, it's going well. I have a kind teacher and he is very helpful," Nai said with a smile.

"Huh? He? I thought you were being trained by Tsukumo..."

"Well, training wasn't going so good since I'm not very good when it comes to weapons so they had Akari teach me," Nai said.

"Oh, so you're in medical training now?" Gareki had not seen that one coming. Sure he never expected Nai to able to use a weapon but who knew he had a talent in medicine.

Nai nodded his head in reply just as their bus had reached their stop. A wave of heat slammed into them when they stepped off the air-conditioned bus and into the hot summer air. Gareki held up his hand to shield his eyes from the sudden bright light. With the sun being so high, it reflected off of every glossy surface, making the street unbelievable bright.

"Ah! There it is," Yogi said eagerly. Looking over to where the blond was pointing, his eyes fell upon a tall, pale pink building with a gargantuan yellow cat head. "Welcome to the Nyanperona Store!"

Gareki's eye twitched as he looked at the gaudy store. "I'm not going in," he said as he turned to walk away.

"Eh? But Gareki it'll be so much fun," Yogi looped an arm around Gareki's shoulders and dragged him inside.

"H-Hey!" He said as he was pulled inside and dropped off in the crowded store. Since it was midday, it was the busiest hour for business so there were many shoppers currently occupying the aisles. The inside of the store consisted of an abounding amount of bright colors with hundreds of different toys lining the walls and on stands in the middle of the room were mountains of Nyanperona plushies.

Gareki hid the look of disgust that was fighting to rise to the surface. All of the bright colors and childish toys were irritating him, not to mention the crowded aisles that were not helping his mood in the least. He took a quick glance around to see if Tsukumo or Yogi were around him but luckily they were all over by Nai showing him different Nyanperona toys. Taking their distraction as an opportunity, Gareki slipped through the crowd and out the front doors.

A sigh of relief left him once he was safely outside. The heat from the sun was extremely intense but anything was better than the suffocating store he had just come from. Deciding he was going to explore the rest of the city on his own, Gareki headed down the street, having no particular destination in mind.

* * *

After spending the next hour wandering around, visiting only a few places, Gareki found a decent amount of shade beneath a tree and decided to lie down for a bit. Pulling at the neck of his shirt, Gareki attempted to cool himself off. Walking around in the sun—in this heat—for an entire hour wasn't the wisest idea, considering he was already feeling immensely dizzy.

He put his hands behind his head to give it some support while he closed his eyes to stop the world from spinning. The raven haired teen lied there for a while, keeping his eyes closed, letting only his sense of smell and hearing to tell him what was going on around him.

As he lied there, the hot summer air changed into a swift cool breeze and the hard ground beneath him changed to that of soft, well-grown grass. Gareki's eyes shot open once he noticed the sudden change. He was no longer in the city beneath a tree but instead in a very familiar open, grassy field. Stopping a groan from escaping his lips, Gareki sat up and lock eyes with the blue haired man who had brought him here.

"Hello Gareki," Karoku said pleasantly. He was standing about ten feet away from him and was dressed in clothes very similar to the ones he had been wearing the first time they had met. "I expect you have your answer ready?"

"You sure didn't give much time to think about it," Gareki replied as he stood up to match Karoku. His hand subconsciously felt for the gun that was in his back pocket; it was a natural reaction for his after his years in the lower districts.

"I apologize for not giving you much time but I can tell that you have already made your decision."

"Yes," Gareki said. Pulling out his gun he aimed it for the center of Karoku's forehead. "I don't give a damn about you or Kafka, nor do I need your help with anything. I am perfectly fine in Circus so you better leave me the hell alone."

Gareki saw Karoku grimace at his response. Karoku began to walk forward and Gareki didn't hesitate to pull the trigger on the gun.

* * *

Hirato searched for the raven haired teen on the cameras but yielded to no result. A moment ago he had been watching Gareki when he suddenly disappeared. Hirato checked for the tracker he had put into his phone but there was no signal coming from that either. Using the computer, the captain called Yogi.

The phones the Circus members used possessed a holographic system that protruded multiple screens from it's base screen. When the phone was called, the system projected a video of the other person, allowing the users to view each other when speaking.

"Hello?" Yogi asked from the other end. He became a bit confused at why Hirato was suddenly calling.

"Yogi, I want to go and look for Gareki, I have a feeling he is in a bit of trouble right now," Hirato watched the blonds face turn from confused to that of shock.

"Gareki?!" Yogi looked around and finally realized that the teen wasn't with them. "Right! I'll head out right now."

"Look around the park area, that's where is signal cut off last," Hirato cut the connection once he had finished, only to reopen it when a new call came through. "What is it?"

"Kafka has appeared in the Northern area," came the first ship captains voice.

"As expected," murmured Hirato, "keep me updated if anything happens. I'm going to be stepping out for a bit."

* * *

-Step Step-

The area around them was completely silent except for the crunching of grass as the Kafka leader continued to walk forward. The gun in the teens hand was still positioned between them, aimed at the blue haired man's head. Gareki's figure was tensed on the trigger but no splitting sound ripped through the air, nor did anything erupt from the barrel of the gun.

 _'I can't move!'_ thought Gareki as he failed to pull the trigger. The raven soon found out that no part of his body would respond to his attempts to move it.

Karoku advanced on the boy and stopped only a few feet away.

"I want you to rethink your answer," Karoku said slowly, almost threateningly, to him. "Right now you are in my world and completely at my mercy. I could decide to kill you right now if I so please. Now tell me your answer."


	8. Chapter 8

Karoku watched Gareki with a calculating gaze, waiting patiently for an answer. He wasn't worried or in a hurry, after all, he controlled the time that past in this world compared to the outside world. If he wished, years could pass in here while only minutes passed in the outside.

_'Damn it! Come on, move!'_ Gareki strained his body to move as he tried to resist the control Karoku had on his body. Looking into the blue haired man's eyes, Gareki knew he was serious with his threat. There was no lie detectable in his gaze nor was there any bluff evident in his facial features.

_'Move!'_ The muscles in his arm were beginning to shake with exhaustion but he could see the slight shift of his arm as it began to move where he wanted it to.

"Your answer, Gareki?" Karoku asked.

_'Move!'_ Gareki could feel his hand tighten around the gun and his finger pressed firmer onto the trigger. His entire body became lighter as he could now move freely. Keeping as still as possible to make it appear that he still couldn't move, a smirk made it's way to his lips.

"You want my answer?" Gareki replied. "Well, I've already given it to you." At the last part Gareki swung the gun toward Karoku and fired.

Karoku couldn't stop the look of surprise the flashed across his face as the bullet moved expeditiously toward him. He was able to move at the last second, the bullet missing the vital spot it had been aimed for, but instead imbedding itself into his left shoulder.

Karoku stumbled slightly at the sudden pain that erupted from his shoulder when he had tried to move his arm. How was he able to break free of his bind without him even knowing about it?! The hand that belonged to the arm that wasn't injured was pressed firmly over the open wound to stop the blood loss.

The momentary loss of concentration caused his grip on his world to weaken to the point that it's stability was now in a critical state. The area around them, that was once a perfectly realistic environment, now became a shimmering and distorted field of colors that was threatening to succumb to blackness.

Gareki glanced around him at the collapsing world; this would be the ideal time to try and escape this prison. While Karoku was currently occupied with keeping the world together, Gareki closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He had absolutely no idea what he was concentrating on, but he figured it was a good way to start. He knew that he had powers similar to Karoku and he always made these worlds using his mind so his should be used in a similar way.

Keeping his eyes closed, Gareki thought about pushing a hole through the barriers of the world around him and into the outside world. Opening his eyes, he found that his efforts yielded to no result and he was still standing in the same place he had been moments earlier. He closed his eyes again and this time drew on his inner strength until he could feel a tightening in his chest. Instead of pushing outwards with his mind, he pushed outwards with the strength he had gathered, releasing all the built up pressure at once.

He opened his eyes and saw a portal of light before him, much like the one Karoku had created the first time they had met.

_'This has got to be it,'_ he thought. Taking one last look at the Kafka captain that was kneeling on the ground in pain and concentrating on his crumbling world, Gareki stepped through his portal. He did not, however, miss the look from Karoku that told him this would not be the last time they would see each other. _'Fine by me.'_

* * *

_Slice Slice_ Yogi continued to destroy the varuga that were attacking him, Nai and Tsukumo. The moment the three of them had reached the park they were swarmed by varuga from every direction, almost as if they were protecting something. As far as Yogi could tell, they were only in the park area, but he had no way of knowing how the rest of the city was fairing.

Tsukumo was currently protecting Nai while Yogi had ventured a little ways from the group to look for any sign of their missing friend. He didn't have much time to look because for every one varuga he destroyed it seemed like two more took it's place.

Yogi was about to call to Tsukumo and tell her that they should temporarily retreat to get some more back up, when a blinding white light filled his vision. He flung his arm across his face to block out the light so fast that he nearly dropped his sword in the sea of varuga. Glancing behind him, he saw that Nai and Tsukumo were doing the same thing.

It was only a moment until the light faded and the three Circus members were able to unshield their eyes. Yogi looked down to where the light had once been and saw only the raven haired teen standing in it's spot. Gareki was wearing the same surprised look as the rest of them, but became even more surprised when he noticed the Kafka army around him.

The varuga only stayed stunned for a moment before resuming their attacks on the Circus members. Gareki was able to dodge the first few attacks before one of the varuga rammed into his side and sent him flying further from the group. He continued to skid across the ground until his back collided with the base of a tree.

Stars danced across his vision as he tried to clear the fog from his mind. Somewhere off in the distance he could hear the blond shouting for him but the words were lost the surrounding noise.

The moment his vision cleared he noticed Yogi was fighting to get to him and was shouting a warning. Gareki looked to his right and saw a varuga coming straight for him, mouth open and ready to devour him. He instinctively reached for his gun but the pocket was empty. Gareki would have facepalmed if he had time to; he had been holding his gun when he left Karoku's world and lost it when he had been hit by the varuga.

The varuga was decreasing the distance to him alarmingly fast and the only thing Gareki could do was throw his hands up to protect his head. Gareki's whole body tensed as he waited for the inevitable impact, this was going to hurt.

Seconds ticked by and nothing seemed to be happening. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see that there were no varuga coming for him nor were there any within a ten meter radius of him. Gareki began to push himself up, only to collapse when blinding pain shot up his back. _'Damn, must have hit that tree harder than I thought.'_

The nearby varuga saw the movement and rushed to attack the injured Circus member. Gareki lifted his hand, focusing on the tightening in his chest and releasing it. In a flash of light the surrounding varuga once again disappeared. A smirk made it's way to his lips, _'Huh, so that's how it works.'_

Gareki was easily able to keep the varuga away until the blond could come to help him. Yogi glanced curiously at his friend once he was next to him, how was he able to destroy that many varuga? He shook his head to refocus on the task at hand, there was time for questions later, right now he needed to focus on protecting his friends. Although he was starting to tire from the relentless fighting, he refused to give in, especially when he was needed.

Yogi was about to rush forward to meet the oncoming varuga when a hand shot out of nowhere and blocked his path. He blinked a few times to make sure the hand was really there before looking up at it's owner. Hirato stood confidently in front of the two fighters, easily fending off the varuga that tried to attack them.

"Yogi," Hirato said, "why don't you take the others and head back to the ship, I can finish cleaning up here."

"Right away!" Yogi replied turning to the teen. Just as he kneeled down to help him up, Gareki suddenly clutched his head is agony.

"Ugh..." Gareki's head felt as if it were splitting open and anything he did only served to make it worse. Even opening his eyes cause the pain to double. He pressed his hands to the side of his head, hoping to lessen the pain. _'What's going on?'_

Yogi became startled at his friends sudden actions. He knew he had to bring him to Akari quickly so he picked him up bridal style, being careful not to put too much pressure on his back, and headed over to where Tsukumo and Nai were.

"Hey! I can walk on my own!" Gareki yelled at the blond through the pain, feeling a bit embarrassed at being carried.

"But Gareki, you're hurt and you shouldn't push yourself," Yogi replied uncertainly, still holding onto him. "Besides, you won't be able to make it to the ship on your own, you don't have a Circus I.D."Gareki stopped struggling, he knew Yogi was right, but he still didn't like it.

Yogi flew over to Tsukumo and motioned that they were to return to the ship. She nodded quickly before picking up Nai and following him.

Hirato watched from the ground as his subordinates flew into the ship. He then took off his top hat, successfully summoning his four banshees. "Now it's my turn."

* * *

Gareki was currently lying on a hospital bed aboard the second ship, unable to sleep because of the throbbing pain coming from his head. The lights around him were dimmed and the windows had to curtains drawn to minimize the light. Akari had examined him a few hours ago and told him that there was nothing permanently wrong with him. His headache was caused because he overused his powers, especially since they had never been used before. His back was fine as well, there will just be some heavy bruising.

Although he had been given pain medication, his headache refused to lighten so he remained in the hospital in case it became worse. Gareki groaned and rolled over onto his side, even the dimmed lights still hurt. _'What have I gotten myself into?'_


	9. Chapter 9

He wasn't sure how long he lied there, and at some point he had fallen asleep, but the next thing he knew, the door was being opened, letting the bright hallway light stream in through the opening. Gareki groaned as the light hit him, causing the headache to return just as strong as before. He put an arm over his eyes in an attempt to block out the light.

"Shut the damn door," Gareki mumbled, not even looking at who was entering.

"S-Sorry Gareki!," the person said as he entered the room, quickly closing the door. Gareki recognized the slightly high, nervous voice but couldn't quiet remember who it belonged to. As he thought, he could hear a chair scrape against the floor as it was pulled up next to the bed and the person sat down. Bringing his arm down, Gareki forced open his eyes to see who his visitor was. Although his sight was slightly blurry, he could still make out a mess of blond hair and a signature light yellow shirt.

"What do you want Yogi?" Gareki asked, a little annoyed that the blond had disrupted his sleep.

"Well, I thought Gareki would be lonely with being stuck in here for a long time so I came to keep you company," Yogi relied with a soft smile. "Akari said you would be fine by tomorrow but I didn't think you would want to be alone for that long."

"That long? How long have I been here?" He had just fallen asleep a little while ago, surely it couldn't have been that long.

"Five days," Yogi stated, a little confused himself at Gareki's surprised look _._

"Ugh," Gareki groaned. _'I must have been sleeping longer than I thought.'_ The room was filled with silence for a few minutes and Gareki thought Yogi was finally going to shut up, until he began talking again.

"Would you like some water? I'm sure you're thirsty," Yogi asked, breaking the silence.

Gareki sighed, he wanted to tell Yogi to just leave, but he knew he was only trying to help him. "Yeah, water sounds great," Gareki said.

Yogi jumped to his feet, eager to comply. Grabbing the cup off of Gareki's night stand and walking into the adjoining bathroom, he filled the cup with water from the sink. He returned to the room with the glass of water and set it down on the stand next to Gareki's bed. Yogi then reached over and helped Gareki into a sitting position, although the movement caused his head to throb in pain. He handed him the glass and kept his hand on his back to make sure he wouldn't fall back.

Gareki blushed slightly at the treatment, which he hoped wasn't visible with the dimmed lights. He drank the water gratefully before handing it back to Yogi who set it back down on the night stand. Gareki layed back down on his side facing away from Yogi. He couldn't explain the sudden uncomfortable feeling he got from looking at the blond, although he was sure he was just a little tired and he would be back to normal after a little more sleep.

Yogi continued to sit by Gareki's bed, even after he had fallen back asleep. A smile made it's way across his features as he remembered Gareki's flustered look when he had put his hand on his back—yes, Yogi could clearly see the blush even in the small amount of lighting. Perhaps Gareki felt the same way about him?

* * *

Akari walked purposefully down the hallway that led to Hirato's office, in his arms was a bundle of papers that included today's reports, documents, and even a few personal files that were requested by the ship's captain. This was a daily routine, every day he would bring the reports and documents for Hirato to read before suggesting what should be done regarding the ships personnel. Although this was the intention, it rarely occurred as it was suppose to, most of the time they ended up getting preoccupied with other "activities."

As Akari raised his hand to knock on the captain's door, Hirato's voice sounded from inside, "Door's open, Doctor."

Akari frowned at Hirato's "all knowing" ability but entered anyway. The captain was seated on the right side couch, he had a gentle smile on his face as he watched the doctor enter the room. Hirato had his legs crossed almost in a feminine fashion and in his hands were a few papers of his own.

Akari shut the door behind him before strode into the room and set the stack of papers on the coffee table that rested between the two couches.

Hirato glanced over the top of the papers and a smirk rose on his face as he observed the doctor. "Why so tense Akari? You act like you think I'm going to do something." Hirato lowered the papers he was holding so he could give his guest his full attention.

Akari felt his eye twitch in irritation, it was almost as if Hirato made an effort to make his mocking tone evident. "You know damn well why and I didn't come here to make a light conversation, you asked for my report so here it is," he made a gesture with his hand toward the paper stack.

"Oh?" Hirato replied, not at all losing his smirk or tone, "I was under the impression that you enjoyed my company."

"Your fake pleasantries make me sick, you ignore the reports I give you and you end up doing your own thing anyway," Akari retorted, sending a glare toward Hirato.

"If you hate me as much as you say you do," Hirato started as he got up from the couch and slowly began walking around the coffee table, "then you could have easily avoided me by sending your requests in electronically." Hirato came to a stop behind Akari, leaning down so his lips were next to the doctor's ear, he reached his hand around and loosened the purple tie, "or maybe you just like to submit to me."

* * *

The following day Gareki sat through what he hoped to be his last examination with Akari. His headache for the most part had disappeared, leaving only a dull throbbing in it's wake. The doctor ran through the basics by checking his temperature and blood pressure, but also ran a scan on his head to make sure that whatever had caused the pain would leave no lasting damage. Gareki waited no more than ten minuets before Akari returned with the scan results.

"Your lucky there's no lasting damage," Akari stated as he walked in, flipping through a few papers that had rested on his clipboard. "Your central nervous system seemed to have been slightly damaged in whatever stunt you were trying to pull, which resulted in your severe migraine. The sudden overuse of your...abilities...were far too much for you body to handle and the nerves were damaged in the process."

Gareki looked up at the doctor when he stumbled over the word "abilities," but didn't push it. Clearly Akari knew more about his abilities than he did but didn't intend to say anything.

"If you continue to be this reckless I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up dead or suffering from a permanent disability." The doctor scolded Gareki for his imprudent actions before quickly dismissing him.

As soon as Gareki stepped outside of the infirmary door, his vision was filled with yellow and an overly emotional blond had wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace. "Gareki! I'm so glad your okay!"

"Yogi, get off!" Gareki threw his hands up to push at the blonds chest, trying to pry him off.

"But I haven't been able to see Gareki in a long time!" Yogi whined when he was shoved off.

"You saw me last night," Gareki stated, a bit annoyed. He pinched the bridge of his nose to stop the now sharp throbbing in his head from increasing.

"But Gareki, about last night..."

Gareki froze, _'He couldn't have noticed.'_

Seeing Gareki look at him encouraged Yogi to continue, "Were you mad at me?"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Gareki replied, "No I wasn't mad." He paused. "I...kind of liked having you there." He turned away from Yogi so that he couldn't see his face or the slight blush that appeared there.

"Really?!" Yogi replied ecstatically. "I'm glad."

Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Gareki began to walk back toward his room but was once again stopped by Yogi.

"Oh and Gareki, Hirato told me to tell you that you should head to the training room to resume your training."

"What? But I just got out of the infirmary," Gareki protested in disbelief. _'Hirato's a damn slave driver!'_ Yogi only returned a sympathetic smile before ushering him toward the training room.

Gareki grumbled as he entered, readying himself for Jiki's brutal training. He didn't even look at his trainer when he entered but instead made his way over to the weapon room to grab his training gun.

"Hello Gareki." The voice didn't belong to Jiki, but sounded a lot like...

"Hirato?" Gareki asked in surprise.

Hirato smiled, "Starting from today, I will be training you."


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as a heads up, this has become a M rated story since it now contains some lemons, but the scenes can be skipped without affecting the story if you don't like that kind of thing. I put a warning before the scene.

Blackness surrounded him. No matter where he looked, blackness stretched for miles in each direction. Looking down at where his body should be, the only thing that appeared in his vision was blackness. By now he couldn't even tell if his eyes were open or closed, everything was the same.

Gareki let out a huff of frustration. It felt like he had been at this for hours, although he couldn't tell since he had lost track of time as well as his sight.

He had started training with Hirato only a few days ago and since then, he had been training to control his new found powers. Each day, Hirato had him meditate for the first hour of the lesson and then try focus his mind into creating an inner world, similar to that of Karoku.

This was easier said than done, after all, he had no idea what he was doing. Anything he did resulted in what was surrounding him now, absolute blackness.

"Your not focusing," Hirato's voice drifted in out of nowhere. It echoed through the space around him making it impossible to pinpoint.

"I'm trying," Gareki grit out through clenched teeth. He was quickly becoming exhausted at the strain of using his powers and his frustration only increased with the feeling of vulnerability at being unable to locate those around him.

"Try remembering the feeling you had back on the battlefield," Hirato's voice continued to echo endlessly.

"I can't-" Gareki's voice cut off as his concentration suddenly snapped and the world came spinning back into focus. The sudden light and color blinded him and falling to his knees was the most he could do to keep from landing face first on the floor.

Gareki's breath came in short gasps and his body was shaking from exhaustion. He hadn't realized how tired he was with all of his focus being on the black world.

Hirato, who was standing a ways away from him, walked forward until he came to a stop only a foot away from the kneeling teen. Hirato knelt down as if to study him.

"Well your obviously doing something right if this amount of exhaustion is the result. If nothing else, at least we are building up your stamina," Hirato smiled sweetly as he said this. He stood up and ruffled the teen's hair in a fatherly like action. "Go and get some rest, I'll see you at five tomorrow morning."

Gareki would have slapped his hand away if not for his arm being the only reason he was still kneeling. Determined to not look weak in front of his captain, Gareki pushed himself onto his feet with shaky legs and began walking back to his room. He had made it about halfway before his knees caved and he stumbled, the wall being the only means of support.

"Do you need assistance baa?" A passing sheep stood to his left, staring up at him with it's unblinking eyes. Gareki thought about ignoring it but knew it wouldn't leave him alone until he addressed it.

"No," Gareki replied, becoming startled at how weak his voice sounded. Clearing his throat he tried again, "I'm fine."

"Please have a good night's sleep then baa," the sheep then turned away and continued down the hall.

Gareki finally reached his room and rested against the door once it was closed. Beside his bed, the clock showed that it was already midnight and he would have to be up in less then four hours if he wanted to have breakfast before training.

_'Definitely a slave driver,'_ Gareki thought as he stumbled over to his bed and collapsed onto the mattress. His consciousness began to fade and sleep overpowered his will to change into his nightclothes.

Not even bothering to get under to covers, Gareki fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

The alarm went off at 3:45 a.m. and Gareki threw his hand over to the clock to shut it off, as he did every morning. Ever since Hirato started training him, he had gotton an actual alarm clock instead of an irritating sheep to wake him up in the morning. Not taking the chance of falling back asleep, Gareki pushed himself off of the bed and grabbed a new set of clothes and headed off to the shower.

He ate breakfast quickly since there was hardly anyone in the cafeteria that early in the morning and walked to the training room.

Once he reached the room, it took him a moment to realize that there was a note tapped to the door. His eyes scanned over the note, quickly reading it.

_I was called away on a last minute mission so I won't be able to train you today. Keep meditating on your own, but don't try anything else unless I'm there to supervise._   
_\- Hirato_

Gareki clenched the paper in his fist. His anger at getting up so early in the morning for no reason caused him to crumple the paper into a tiny ball.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep now that he was fully awake, the teen headed back to his room to finish his hour of meditation so he would have the rest of the day free.

Sitting down on his bed in the comfortable silence of his room, Gareki closed his eyes and began taking deep breaths.

_'One...two-'_

"Gareki!" The door was slammed open and a familiar white haired boy came running into the room. Following closely behind him was the ever happy blond haired Circus fighter. "Good morning!"

Gareki rubbed his eyes with his hands, "What are you doing here this early in the morning?"

"Hirato said you would be lonely with your training canceled so we decided to come and visit you," Nai stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Did he now?" Gareki replied in annoyance. What was the point of giving him a meditation assignment if he was going to send him these two anyway?

"Hey Gareki, why don't we head over to Tsukumo's room and we can all try to make plushies," Yogi held up a poorly made Nai plushie that looked like it had just gone through a trash compacter.

"Huh? Why would I want to make that?" Gareki asked in disbelief. The thing looked like it could be a monster plushie and Gareki never cared much for arts and crafts.

"Eh? But why wouldn't you?" Yogi asked. The blond walked over and grabbed a protesting Gareki by the arm and procceded to drag him out of the room, with Nai following.

* * *

Gareki returned to his room shortly after ten in the evening with an impressively made Yogi plushie. The blond had thrusted the toy into his arms just as he had said he was heading to bed, and had insisted that he keep it. Laying down on his bed, the teen held the toy above him and examined it.

The plushie was obviously made by an amateur but at least it resembled the person it was modeled after and didn't look like a mini monster like Nai's. The eyes were a little disheveled but Gareki thought that that was appropriate.

He let his arm drop and the plushie landed beside him. Rolling onto his side, Gareki closed his eyes, thinking he would rest a moment before getting ready for bed. But when he opened he opened his eyes, everything was black.

* * *

**~Lemon Scene~**

"You're as reckless as ever," Akari stated with an annoyed tone lacing his voice. He tied the bandage around the captain's arm a little tighter than necessary.

"Sorry," Hirato replied, his eyes watched the doctor as he applied the bandages. "I just wanted a reason to come and see you after you practically kicked me out the last time I was here."

Akari huffed and turned away upon hearing his patients reasoning. "I have more important things to do than entertaining you." He walked over to the cabinets to return the bandages and disinfectants to their rightful places.

"You always act this way," Hirato pouted, "but you never seem to protest when things get more...exciting." He stood up and walked over to the other occupant in the room. Hirato reached over Akari's shoulder and closed the cabinet door, keeping his hand in place to trap the doctor between him and the door.

Akari turned around to face the slightly taller man and glared up at him. "As you can see Hirato, I'm at work right now and don't have time for this."

"Well, I'm your patient aren't I? Doesn't that mean you need to help me with my needs?" Hirato leaned close to Akari, his lips almost brushing against the others. Hirato moved the hand that wasn't against the wall upward to loosen the tie around the doctor's neck and gently began to guide the coat off of his shoulders.

"Hirato-" Akari's protests were cut off when the captain pressed his lips against his own.

"Shh, just treat me, doctor," Hirato drawled out the last word with lust evident in his voice.

The next thing Akari knew, he was being pulled forward. The world continued to spin around him until he felt the back of his legs connect with something soft and he fell backwards. His body automatically tensed at the expectation of a hard landing but he only felt a soft, thin surface beneath him.

He noticed that he was now occupying the patient bed that Hirato had been sitting on moments before. Hirato leaned over him, having already lost his coat. Their lips connected again, Hirato's tongue pushing its way into his mouth but each battled for a bit of dominance.

Hirato's hand pressed against the growing bulge in Akari's pants, eliciting a deep moan from Akari's throat. Hirato smirked as he broke the kiss for some much needed air and began to leave butterfly kisses against Akari's jaw and down his neck. He stopped at the base of his neck and began to suck.

"Hn...Hirato...don't leave...a mark," Akari said through gasps of air.

Hirato pulled away when a dark mark was made, "I'm just claiming what is mine."

Akari shivered as a cold breeze hit him when the remainder of his clothes were removed. Before he could think of his circumstances, a hot warmth engulfed his cock sending bursts of pleasure through his lower areas.

Akari forced down a moan as Hirato's tongue danced skillfully around his cock. He barely noticed the lubricated finger that had entered his entrance. Only when the second finger joined and began a scissor motion did he wince in discomfort. Hirato teased the tip of Akari's cock, successfully pulling his attention away from his discomfort.

"Ah...Hirato...I'm going...to cum!" Akari gasped.

Hirato pulled away before Akari could reach his climax, "Not yet."

"Bastard," Akari glared at him.

"I do try," Hirato replied smoothly. Lining his cock up to Akari's entrance, Hirato began to slowly push in, giving the doctor time to adjust. He only stopped once he was completely inside. "It's only been a week and you're still so tight."

"Don't say stuff like that," Akari replied. After about a minute the pain began to lesson, "I'm fine, move."

Needing no motivation, Hirato began to thrust in and out of the entrance, starting out slow then quickly picking up the pace. Almost immediately, Hirato hit Akari's prostate, causing stars to dance in front of his vision.

Hirato smirked at Akari's loud moan of pleasure, knowing that he had found the spot, and continued to aim for that same area. His hand wrapped around Akari's member and began pumping in rhythm with the thrusts.

It wasn't long before Akari could feel a tightening in his stomach as his climax was approaching. "Nngh! Hirato! I'm going to cum!"

Hirato picked up speed in response, thrusting harder into the entrance until both reached their climax, letting out a final shout of pleasure.

Akari gasped for breath as he laid on the bed, riding out his orgasm. By the time the stars had cleared from his vision, Hirato had already gotten dressed. This failed to surprise him as Akari had already gotten used to Hirato's inhuman amount of stamina by now.

"Thank you for helping me today, doctor," Hirato said with a charming smile, "I look forward to the day we can have more than one go." Hirato walked out, shutting the door behind him.


	11. Chapter 11

Gareki looked around cautiously at the new black surrounding. He used his arms to push himself into a sitting position, but then suddenly paused.

Before when he had been in this black world, there had been nothing to indicate which direction was which, but now there was something hard beneath him. In fact, it felt an awful lot like...

"Concrete!" Using his hands, he felt the surface that spread in each direction around him. While most of his surroundings remained black, the white concrete beneath him was definitely there.

Gareki watched the concrete extend until he could no longer see it before he looked to his right. He imagined blacktop running parallel to the concrete and to his surprise, it appeared. Familiar yellow and white lines formed in the correct places along the blacktop, completing a replica of a road.

Gareki smirked in victory as everything was finally coming together. _His_ world was coming together! Gareki felt a rush of excitement as he then looked to his left.

A large rectangular building began to rise from the ground. It continued to rise until it was near fifty stories tall. The building itself was a deep black color with intricate golden colored designs tracing the dark tinted windows. Standing at the front were large gold double doors.

Curious as to what would be inside, Gareki approached the doors. He reached forward but just before he could grasp the handles, everything disappeared.

Bright lights assaulted his eyes when he awoke. He tried to shield his eyes with his hands but found he couldn't move them. Before he could figure out why a shape appeared above him, blocking out the light.

"What did I tell you about using your powers when I'm not here?" A familiar voice scolded him.

Gareki rolled his eyes and went to protest but found that his voice came out weak. He moved to sit up but his arms refused to respond, the most he could do was flex his fingers. He groaned as a sharp pain shot through his head at his attempt to move.

Hirato sighed. "How many times must I stress the importance of supervision during your training?" Hirato sat back in a chair that was sitting next to the bed, forcing Gareki to turn his head sideways to avoid the blinding light.

"While I do congratulate you on your remarkable amount of progress, I must also remind you of the dangers of overusing your powers. Too much at one time can be overwhelming for the mind and sometimes physically damaging, which is why you are currently in the medical facility now."

Gareki looked away. He had already learned this the hard way from his last fight down in the city. Besides, it wasn't like he had been doing it on purpose, it had happened so suddenly and he had just went along with it.

Hirato stood up and grabbed Gareki's chin, turning his head to look at him. Gareki didn't fight him, not that he had the strength to do so anyway.

"You're lucky I returned when I did, had I not been there to stop you you would have died." Hirato had gone to check on Gareki the previous night after seeing Akari and had found the teen collapsed on the bed with barely any heart beat. After forcibly removing the raven from his inner world, he had brought him straight to the medical room with Akari. The doctor had been a bit flustered and unprepared from their previous encounter and after shouting some colorful words at Hirato, he had preceded to stabilize the teen.

"You let your powers consume you and drag you into your mind," Hirato said. "While you will find it easier to manipulate your world this way rather than when you force your way in, you won't be able to judge your physical condition."

Gareki couldn't stop the look of surprise that came across his face as Hirato let go of him and began walking to the door. How did he know so much? Weren't he and Karoku the only ones with this ability?

"You should get some rest, we will resume training as soon as Akari clears you." Hirato grasped the door handle and paused. He glanced over his shoulder at the teen, "Interesting world you got there by the way." With that the door shut behind him.

* * *

Gareki awoke the next morning to the bright sunlight streaming in through the open curtains. His headache had decreased to a dull throb and he had already regained some of the movement in his arms.

Akari and some nurses came in shortly after he had awakened and while the nurses began running a check up, Akari gave him a lightweight ball. He was asked to squeeze the ball ten times and then raise it into the air ten times to test his strength, much to his annoyance.

Gareki had been left slightly exhausted by the simple arm exercise, not that he would tell Akari that. The doctor always seemed to be all knowing anyways so he was sure he had known whether he had told him or not.

Just before Gareki could be bored out of his mind, the trio came in as if on cue. Tskumo, Yogi and Nai all stood there with worried looks on their faces.

"Are you okay Gareki?" Nai asked in his cute voice. He jumped up onto the end of Gareki's bed, eager to see his injured friend, but then paused when Gareki winced from the sharp pains in his head the sudden movement had caused. "Do you hurt?" Nai asked, a look of guilt flashing across his face.

"No, I'm fine," Gareki replied quickly. "It's just a little headache."

"Will a kiss make it better?" Yogi asked asked after a moment of silence.

"A-a what?!" Gareki exclaimed, automatically leaning away from Yogi's sudden close proximity.

"I want to give Gareki a kiss too!" Nai said innocently.

"Hey! I don't need-" Gareki cut off suddenly, opting instead for a sharp intake of breath as Yogi's lips were now mere centimeters from his own. He was trapped between Yogi and the bed and with nowhere to go, he could do nothing but wait in anticipation for the blonds next move.

Yogi's lips brushed his, just barely touching before they disappeared completely. A light kiss was placed on his cheek before Yogi pulled away, smiling at Garekis surprised reaction.

"Lets keep the intimate actions to a minimum," Akari said as he walked in. A clipboard rested on his arm with a pen in the opposite hand as he scribbled down notes, not even glancing up from his papers.

"Why?" Yogi pouted. "It's not like you and Hirato hide-" A loud smack resounded through the room instantly shutting up the blond. The clipboard that had hit the blond upside the head was gripped tightly in the doctors hand.

"I don't need any backtalk from you," Akari stated angrily. He grabbed Yogi and Nai and dragged them to the door. "Gareki needs rest, you can see him tomorrow."

"But I didn't get to give Gareki a kiss!" Nai protested as the door closed behind him.

Garekis hand touched the place where Yogi had kissed him. Why was a simple kiss making his heart beat so fast?

* * *

Gareki once again stood on the white concrete in the endless black pit of his mind. It had taken him a while to get back to this place, since he had to make his own way in this time but he finally made it.

Stepping forward and moving to the right of the black colored building, Gareki imagined multiple skyscrapers lining the sidewalk. Each building that appeared had a unique design from the others, none had the same appearance. Even from the simple creation of the metal structures, Gareki could feel the energy drain from his body and feel his breath become labored.

"You're showing signs of exhaustion," Hirato's voice floated around in the darkness.

"I've hardly done anything," Gareki protested.

"On the contrary, whether you recognize it or not you've actually done quite a bit." Hirato said. "Remember in the law of physics that something cannot be created from nothing. You are creating a world in which matter does not exist but since matter cannot be created or destroyed you are forced to use something else."

"Like what?" Gareki questioned. "If you don't remember this place is completely blank. There's nothing here."

Hirato sighed. "But there _is_ something there, _you_ are there. In this world you are able to convert your energy into solid matter. Therefore the more you create, the more energy you use."

"What if I can't control what I'm creating?" Gareki asked as he eyed the row of newly formed skyscrapers. "When I create something, I can't control it's appearance."

"You are subconsciously creating the objects from memory. This way only you are able to recognize every part of your world," the captain explained.

Gareki nodded, even though he wasn't sure if Hirato could see him or not. Walking forward until he was in line with the last building, Gareki stopped to examine the side walk. Since it seemed to go on without end, he decided to bend it instead.

Reaching his hand out forward, he grasped the air like he was holding the long sidewalk and pulled his hand to the left. The cement immediately followed his hand and curved until it lined up with the left side of the building.

Although he felt the exhaustion returning even stronger than before, he tried to ignore it. He instead turned to look at the road. Since the sidewalk turned, there will need to an intersection at the curve. Gareki closed his eyes and willed a four laned road to appear along side the sidewalk. Opening his eyes he saw the white and yellow painted blacktop in its appropriate place.

Just before he could move on to the next object he had in mind a sharp knife like pain shot through his head, causing him to drop to his knees. Both hands flew up to grip the sides of his head as he tried to draw in a deep breath. The air seemed to stop before reaching his lungs and no matter how hard he tried, his lungs refused to respond. Panic began to grip him as he felt his energy leaving him.


	12. Chapter 12

Gareki felt the surface beneath him change from rough to smooth. He was now lying on his back in the second ship training room with a massive headache and a desperate need for oxygen.

Both of his hands grabbed the front of his shirt in an attempt to loosen the constricting fabric, but failing to succeed in his panic. He wanted to sit up but lacked the energy to lift himself.

"Relax Gareki," Hirato's calm voice came from right next to him. A firm arm went beneath his back and pushed him into a sitting position. "I told you overusing your powers can be physically damaging."

"You didn't...stop me," Gareki forced out the words with the little air he could get. His breath was beginning to come easier and a bit of his strength was returning, albeit rather slowly, but he used the energy he had to push the four-eyed captain away.

"Well lesson learned now isn't it?" Hirato smirked. "What better way to learn than through your own mistakes?"

"You're enjoying this," It wasn't a question.

"I enjoy the moments when my students make surprising breakthroughs," Hirato said with his ever present smile.

They sat for a while in an uncomfortable silence while Gareki steadied his breathing. A persistent question kept bouncing around in his mind and Gareki was eager to know the answer, but he waited until he had enough energy and breath so he didn't sound like a gasping fish every time he spoke.

"How do you know so much?" Gareki asked. He instantly cursed inside his head at his own foolish question. There's obviously a lot the captain knows, he could have at least been a little less vague. Now he just sounded like a naive child.

Hirato hummed in thought as he studied the teen. "You're wondering how I have extensive knowledge in the area of world making that is supposedly rare to posses? How I know everything you're doing and the energy it takes without having visited it myself? How I can pull you from your world even without your permission?"

"Yeah..." Gareki said lamely as he gaped at the captain. He sure knew just how to hit the nail on the head.

"You'll figure out when the time comes," Hirato said as he ruffled the ravens hair, beginning to walk away. "You should get some early rest tonight, you'll need it for tomorrow."

"Wait," Gareki shouted after him. "If you won't tell me anything else, can you at least tell me why you said my world was interesting?"

Hirato paused at the door, turning to the teen. "Most worlds are based on nature, as that is where everything begins and ends, but yours was based on mechanical, man-made objects. Quite advantageous really."

* * *

The next few weeks passed by rather quickly, with Gareki spending most of his time in the training room with Hirato. Although the captain had told him he was making good progress, he sure as hell didn't feel that way. Sure he now had a good section of a city to work with, but compared to what he had seen of Karoku's, his just seemed pathetic.

Gareki now understood why Karoku had to work so hard to keep his world from collapsing in their previous fight. The amount of energy need to create a world is extensive, he couldn't imagine trying to stabilize it. If one moment of lack of concentration could destabilize a world, he couldn't help but feel a little worried about trying to have a battle there.

The weather began to grow steadily colder until all Gareki could see out his window each night was a blurry white blizzard. Christmas was fast approaching and although Nai and the others seemed excited for it, Gareki really couldn't care less. He never cared much about the holidays, especially after he had moved away from his adoptive siblings.

Nai, oblivious to Gareki's annoyed mood, begged him to join their small Christmas party that was going to be held that night. While he would have normally flat out rejected the offer, Nai's cute pleading face forced him to cave in, and thus he found himself standing in the cafeteria with the rest of the Circus crew, holding a glass of fruit punch that Nai had given him when he had walked in.

The room was decorated with strung up lights and paper snowflakes that looked like they were made by a child—which they probably were. A bright Christmas tree was standing in the far right corner with a pile of presents sitting beneath it.

Many people mulled about the room, most of whom Gareki didn't know. Outside of Yogi, Nai and Tsukumo, he had never really bothered to get to know any of the other members. In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to ignore the older, and far more experienced, Circus members. Nevertheless, the unknown members had still come up to Gareki and wished him happy holidays, some even calling him by name. A bit a guilt surfaced at the fact that they knew his name, but he knew none of theirs.

Gareki was distracted from his musings when his vision was suddenly blocked by bouncing white hair and a pair of reindeer horns. "Having fun Gareki?" the overly excited boy asked. With the amount of bouncing he was doing, Gareki wondered in amusement if Nai was having a sugar rush.

"Sure," Gareki said to please Nai. Parties weren't his thing, but he didn't want to ruin it for Nai, so he could at least pretend his was having fun. Gareki set his drink down on the table behind him, unbeknownst to him that he had set his red fruit punch drink down on the wine table.

Nai seemed to light up even more at Gareki's statement. "That's great! Oh, and Yogi was asking for you earlier. I wonder where he went..." Nai glanced around the room, but when he failed to find the blond, he took off into the crowd to look for his missing friend.

Gareki smirked at Nai's antics. He reached behind and grabbed the glass that he thought that he had set down earlier and took a drink of the red liquid.

_'What kind of fruit punch is this? It's more bitter than sweet.'_ Gareki made a face at the red drink, unable to decide whether he liked the taste or not. He continued to sip the drink as he began walking through the crowd of people.

It wasn't long before the ground beneath Gareki felt like it was starting to sway. Feeling off balance, Gareki reached out and grabbed onto a nearby table. His body was feeling a bit warm, so he took a long drink from his glass, hoping it would clear his head.

The dizziness didn't seem to let up so Gareki decided he might as well head back to his room and try to sleep it off. Gareki made it out of the room mostly unnoticed and began heading of in the direction of his room.

Using the wall to keep himself upright, Gareki continued down the hallway for what felt like ages. Is he even in the right hallway? Did he already pass his room? He couldn't tell. Gareki groaned and leaned his back against the wall. He was lost.

His body was unnaturally hot and the dizziness continued to tilt the hallway, making his surroundings unrecognizable.

"Ugh, where the hell is my room?" Gareki complained. He leaned his head back against the cold wall and tried to rub the dizziness from his eyes.

"Gareki?" A familiar voice came from his right. "What are you doing?"

"Going to my room," Gareki replied, lowering his hands to look at the newcomer.

"You're going to bed already? But we haven't even opened the presents yet," Yogi said in disappointment. The blond took a moment to study the teen. He noticed the way the raven was leaning heavily against the wall and the way his eyes didn't seem to focus on him. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine," Gareki snapped, although he couldn't seem to put any anger into his voice. It came out more slurred than anything.

"Um, you do know that your room is the other way right?" Yogi asked in amusement.

Gareki glanced down the way he had just came from. "Yeah...of course... I was just heading that way." Gareki pushed off the wall but instantly lost balance when his support disappeared.

Yogi instinctively reached out and grabbed Gareki's arm to stabilize him. Surprisingly, Gareki didn't try to push him off.

"Gareki are you drunk?" Yogi couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice.

"No," Gareki said quickly, "I'm just tired." He allowed Yogi to lead him down the hallway, and strangely, he didn't mind Yogi's help.

They reached his room in no time and Yogi led the teen inside.

"Hey Yogi?" Gareki said into the silence of his dark room.

"Hmm?" Yogi hummed in reply.

"Thanks," Gareki mumbled, "for helping me."

"It's no problem Gareki! I'll always help you," Yogi said, feeling overjoyed that Gareki had just thanked him.

"Come here a sec." Gareki pulled on Yogi's shirt to get him to bend over.

"Uh okay," Yogi said confused, and bent down so that he was closer to Gareki's height. He could feel the raven's grip on his shirt tighten before he was pulled forward, and Gareki's lips crashed with his own. Yogi's eyes widened in surprise, but he didn't pull away.

Gareki deepened the kiss, pulling Yogi as close as possible. Yogi momentarily lost himself in the kiss, Gareki's soft lips against his own, but then he remembered that Gareki was probably drunk and had no idea what he was doing.

Yogi gently pushed the raven away. "Gareki, I think you should get some sleep."

"Hmm yeah," Gareki replied. Reluctantly stepping away from the blonde and toward the bed.

Yogi, left Gareki in his room and headed back to the party. Yogi touched his lips, he almost feel the touch of Gareki's lips still on his own. Even if Gareki didn't remember in the morning, there was no way that Yogi could ever forget.


	13. Chapter 13

"Ugh," Gareki groaned as he awoke the next morning. He had a killer headache and a quick glance at the clock told him it was only 4:30 in the morning. There was no way that the headache would allow him to go back to sleep, even at such an ungodly hour.

What a waste, it was the only day off Hirato would give him for the holidays, and he still woke up early. So much for sleeping in.

"How did I even get here..." Gareki muttered to himself. He turned his head to look out the dark window. Large snowflakes continued to fall, only visible in the light cast from the Circus ship.

Thinking hard on what he last remembered, memories began to flash through his mind. He was at that Christmas party with Nai...then he met Yogi in the hallway because of that funny tasting punch...and Yogi guided him to his room. That seemed like that should be the end of it, but...wasn't there something else that he was supposed to remember? Something that happened after they got back to his room...

Gareki gasped as he bolted upright, headache momentarily forgotten. Wait, was he remembering correctly? Did he really...kiss Yogi?!

Gareki hid his face in his hands, he could feel his face heating up from the blush that was undoubtedly there. How could he do something like that? Would Yogi think that he was weird if he figured out he like him as more than a friend? No, maybe he wouldn't find out...maybe he would think that Gareki just wasn't thinking straight.

"Damn it," Gareki groaned, "why did this have to happen?"

* * *

Although he knew that sleep was useless, with the embarrassed thoughts about what happened with Yogi added on top of the ever present headache, he still attempted to return to the blissful oblivion of sleep. Hours passed without a wink of sleep and at around seven, he figured there was no point in trying anymore and got up. After getting dressed, he went to open his door, only to find a bundled up Nai, Tsukumo, and Yogi already standing outside of it.

"Gareki!" Nai said excitedly. "We were just going to wake you up and ask if you wanted to play outside with us."

"Play outside?" Gareki asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, there's lots of new snow that can be built into snowmen and it's so nice out today, please Gareki," Nai begged. His big, watery eyes held Gareki's eyes pleadingly.

"Uh." He didn't really want to go, he would rather just stay inside and do something less active until his headache went away, but the look that Nai was giving him made it really hard to resist. "Fine," Gareki said in defeat, watching as Nai went from the puppy dog look to a big cheesy smile.

"Yay! Yay! Gareki's coming outside with us!" Nai cheered. He handed Gareki a long blue coat, with the number two sewn into the left shoulder, that had been specially designed by the Circus Research Center, a new black and purple Circus made gun, and a jewel embedded bracelet. "Oh by the way, we finally get our Circus ID's!" Nai added as he pointed to the bracelet.

Gareki groaned as his head began pounding in protest of Nai's continuous cheering. He brought his hand up to the side of his head, as an automatic reaction, as if it would lessen the pain. This action did not go unnoticed by the blond Circus fighter that was standing a few feet away.

"Gareki, does it hurt somewhere?" Yogi asked concerned.

"It's fine," Gareki replied irritably. "I just have a slight headache."

"Oh," Yogi said relieved. _That'll happen,_ Yogi thought, _Gareki must have never had alcohol before, how cute._ "I'm sure some fresh air will help." Yogi gently took Gareki's hand and led him along with the group to the ship's exit. "Welcome to Rinoll!"

A burst of cold air hit the group as they descended from the ship. A white winter wonderland stretched around them for miles, the cold being partially nullified by the heat of sun shining down from the clear sky. A town could be spotted nearby, the Ice Crystal Town as it was often called.

Now with his own Circus ID Gareki was able to fly down to the ground on his own. However, as it was his first time flying, and he had no idea how to land, he ended up dropping out of the air when was still about 10 meters from the ground.

Gareki tensed as he rapidly neared the ground, but before he could land, a hand shot out and grabbed his arm. Gareki looked up and saw Yogi hovering right above him, holding tightly onto his arm. He was slowly lowered to the ground and Yogi quickly let go of him.

They landed on the snow covered ground beneath the ship, their feet creating crunching sounds as their weight pressed on the settled snow. Gareki would never admit it, but this was his first time experiencing snow. He never imagined that the snow would sparkle so brightly or that the ground seemed to bend down beneath him as he walked. It was a weird sensation to be walking on squishy ground.

"Nai, what do you want to do first?" Tsukumo asked, her soft voice was a little difficult to hear over the crunching of the snow.

"I...um," Nai looked around, unsure what he wanted to do since everything was so new to him. "Can we build a snowman? I've never built one before."

"Great idea!" Yogi shouted, causing Gareki to flinch slightly at the loud noise. Everyone, except Gareki, began gathering snow to make the body of the snowman. Tskumo instructed Nai on how to pact the snow into a ball and then showed him how to roll it around in the snow to make it bigger. Gareki began to walk away, intent on exploring the woods. Yogi looked up at the sound of retreating footsteps. "Gareki? Aren't you going to help with the snowman?"

"Huh?" Gareki glanced back at blond. "Why would I want to build a snowman? That's for children. I'm going to have a look around." Gareki turned back around and continued walking.

"B-but we should stay together! I-it's dangerous walking around by yourself!" Yogi shouted after him, frantically waving his arms to get the teen's attention.

Gareki ignored him and continued his path further into the woods. He kept alert for any unusual noises but doubted anything would venture this far into the woods in the dead of winter.

He hadn't walked too far when something shinny caught his eye, causing him to venture its direction. Upon clearing the trees, a completely frozen over lake stood in front of him. Gareki knew that people ice skated on frozen lakes during the winter seasons, but he had obviously never tried it himself.

He walked over to the edge of the lake, looking down to see if it was thick enough to walk on. He hesitantly stepped out to test his weight but when he began to slip on the friction-less surface, he quickly backtracked onto safer ground.

"Gareki? What are you doing?" Yogi asked as he walked toward him. He had followed Gareki into the woods to make sure he wouldn't get attacked by anything and had caught up to the teen when he was testing the ice. Yogi smiled at Gareki's cute curiosity.

"Nothing," Gareki replied quickly, embarrassed at having been caught "playing" with the ice. He turned away from the lake to show his disinterest.

Yogi stopped next to Gareki and suddenly an idea came to him. "Gareki, have you ever been ice skating?"

"What? Well, no—" Gareki started to reply.

"Great!" Yogi exclaimed, once again causing Gareki to flinch. "Wait right here." With that, Yogi took off flying back in the direction of the ship, leaving a confused Gareki by the lake.

He didn't have to wait long, for the blond could be seen quickly returning within minutes of his departure. Yogi smiled brightly when he landed in front of him, in his hands were two medium sized bags. "Sorry for the wait, but I had to run and get these."

"Get what?" Gareki asked as a bag was thrust into his arms. He glanced skeptically at Yogi but opened the bag anyway. Inside was a pair of perfectly made ice skates.

"Ice skates? What for?" Gareki asked.

"To go ice skating of course! You said you have never been skating before, and I thought that since you didn't seem interested in the snow..." Yogi trailed off while fidgeting with his hands, looking a bit insecure.

"Huh? Just because I said I had never been skating doesn't mean that I want to try it," Gareki said, trying to hand the bag back to Yogi.

"Please Gareki," Yogi pleaded, refusing to take the bag. "Just try for a few minutes and if you don't like it then I won't ask again."

Gareki rolled his eyes and looked back at the lake, a few minutes wouldn't hurt right? He reluctantly sat down near the edge of the lake and proceeded to put on the ice skates. Yogi smiled brightly and sat down next to him, copying his example.

"Alright." Yogi pushed himself up and onto the ice. He glided across the frozen lake with ease that spoke of years of previous experience. "Come on Gareki." Yogi motioned for the teen who was still sitting beside the lake.

Gareki stood up, wobbling a bit from the lack of friction beneath him. He put his arms out to balance himself, but he was unprepared for the forward momentum his standing up had caused. Gareki ended up leaning too far back and with nothing to hold on to, he began falling backwards.

He braced himself for the unavoidable impact but before he could hit the ice, two strong arms caught him underneath the arms from behind, holding him up.

"Sorry," Yogi said sincerely, "I should have helped you up." He pushed the teen back into a standing position, but held onto his arm in case he started to fall again. Once he was sure Gareki was okay with standing, Yogi pushed off of the ice and gently pulled Gareki along with him.

Gareki fought for balance at the sudden change of momentum pulling him forward, but quickly adjusted. It wasn't until he steadied himself that he realized he was clinging to Yogi for support. He quickly let his grip go and moved to push himself away, but Yogi, predicting Gareki's movements, went and grabbed his hands instead.

A light blush, that could easily be excused by the cold weather, appeared on his cheeks as he looked at their joined hands. He couldn't help but think that they looked like on those cliché couples in movies. Nonetheless, he decided it was fine and let Yogi guide him across the ice.

He didn't know how long they were skating like that, but Gareki started to enjoy the gentle grip of Yogi's hands in his. He was lost in his thoughts and was caught unaware when Yogi stopped. Gareki slid forward, not having enough time to stop himself, and ran into Yogi.

Yogi wrapped his arms around Gareki to steady them from the sudden impact. When Gareki looked up, Yogi's face was inches from his since he was also looking down at the teen. Gareki could see a strange emotion in the blond's eyes...want? But for what?

Gareki thought he had his answer when Yogi leaned down a little further, till their lips brushed. His breathing became a little quicker and he could feel his heart rate increase to the point that he was sure Yogi could hear it.

He waited anxiously for something to happen. It was like time stood still. The cold wind stopped blowing, the sounds of nature around them dimmed into nothingness, and the only sound that could be heard was the pair's quick breathing.

Instead of warmth against his lips like he expected, Gareki suddenly noticed the cold air that blew against him as he was now standing by himself. Gareki gritted his teeth as he watched Yogi walk away. He couldn't take it anymore, his hands tightened into fists, and he opened his mouth.

"Idiot!" Gareki exclaimed. "Stop sending me mixed signals! If you want to kiss me then do it, but stop confusing me so much!" Gareki looked down, allowing his hair to shield his eyes. His eyes were watering from frustration and anger, but he didn't want Yogi to see him crying.

"Gareki," Yogi replied softly. He walked back over and stopped just in front of the distraught teen. He hesitantly reached out, not wanting to startle him, and gently tilted his chin up. Yogi leaned down and pressed his lips against Gareki's. It was a very soft, almost butterfly-like kiss, that ended only when Yogi pulled away.

"I'm sorry," Yogi said gently, "I wasn't sure if you liked me that way, and I didn't want to upset you."

"You're such an idiot," Gareki said, finally getting a tight enough reign on his feelings so he could reply to Yogi without sounding weak. He pulled the blond foward and pressed his lips against his again, but this time, the kiss was more demanding.

Yogi responded by gently nudging Gareki's mouth open into a deeper kiss as he pulled the raven closer to him. Once Gareki parted his lips more, Yogi was able to search Gareki's mouth to his heart's content. Gareki enjoyed the passionate kiss and didn't want it to end but eventually both them needed air.

They pulled away from each other panting. Gareki opened his eyes, not even realizing when he had closed them, and looked into the eyes of person holding him tightly. Yogi's eyes were filled with lust and want which made Gareki leaned in for another fervent kiss.

A sudden noise caused the two Circus members to freeze. Gareki felt a shiver of nervousness pass through him at the familiar sound. Turning to look over his shoulder, Gareki's eyes met with those of a horribly deformed varuga but that wasn't what made him nervous. It was the hundreds of varuga standing behind it.


	14. Chapter 14

Gareki spun around to face the oncoming enemy, the intimacy of the previous moment long forgotten. His head turned slightly to the side—still keeping the enemies in front of him within eyesight—as the sounds of rustling leaves became louder around them. Varuga slowly crept out of the woods surrounding them, cornering them on the icy lake.

Gareki slowly reached for the gun that was hidden in his pocket. He could feel Yogi tense behind him, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.

"Looks like we'll have to finish this later then," came a soft voice from behind Gareki. He simply nodded in response, not even sure if the blond could see him or not.

The Varuga seemed to quickly lose interest in the intense staring contest that had initiated between the two Circus fighters and them and suddenly leapt at the pair. Gareki could sense that Yogi had already taken off into the air, but since he wasn't too comfortable with flying yet, he decided to fight from the ground.

He dodged the first Varuga that had leapt at him but lost his balance, quickly remembering that he was on ice and wearing now very uncomfortable ice skates. He stumbled upright, leaping over an incoming Varuga and shooting another. He grinned as he watched the monster explode when the bullet impacted it. Now he could finally fight as a real Circus fighter instead of relying on Yogi or other Circus members.

Focusing back on his task, he continued to fire bullets at the Varuga as he made his way across the ice, intent on getting his normal shoes so that he could fight better. Most of the monsters had taken an interest in the flying Circus member and were focusing their attention on him, allowing Gareki to stumble onto the snowbank and quickly kick off his skates. He looked down as he slipped on his normal running shoes, not even bothering with the laces.

"Gareki!" Yogi yelled and said teen paused, looking around to see what had made the blond yell. His eyes widened in surprise as a shadow came over him and he quickly raised his arm to aim at the figure: however, before he could aim properly, the monster's teeth clamped down on his raised arm, eliciting a cry of pain from the teen.

Gareki felt his body yanked upwards by his injured arm, causing a searing hot pain to run through the limb and the quick movement making his head spin. His feet left the ground and he kicked wildly, trying to prevent himself from being dragged further back into the woods away from the Circus ship.

His gun was in the hand that belonged to the injured arm and with the way the Varuga was shaking him around in the air he wasn't able to grab it with the other hand. Deciding that he had no other choice, he pressed his hand against the black beast and released the familiar feeling of energy, allowing it to surround the Varuga.

Gareki yelped in surprise when he was suddenly falling through the air, landing in a tumble on the semi-soft snow. A hiss of pain escaped his lips when his injured arm impacted the cold ground.

Gareki quickly pushed himself up from the ground with his good arm, sensing that he was not alone. He grabbed the gun from his bad hand and raised it to the new Varuga that was standing across from him.

Before Gareki could fire, there was a sudden explosion from the direction of the lake. The energy levels in the air seemed to rise drastically, making his skin feel tingly. The Varuga took advantage of the distraction and raced toward the teen. Gareki quickly fired, but the bullet missed due to his momentary hesitation.

Gareki blinked in surprise when there was nothing in front of him. He glanced around, but there were only bare trees and snow around him. The quiet atmosphere was broken by the crunching of snow as he took a tentative step forward. A tingling in the back of his mind told him that danger was approaching from the left and he raised his arm in defense. As soon as he raised his arm, a dense mass slammed into him and threw him to the side.

Using the momentum from the impact, Gareki rolled out of the landing so that he was kneeling on the ground. He shot at the monster but the beast once again evaded the attack using it's inhuman speed. Really not wanting to get bit again, Gareki jumped up and flew upwards, narrowly avoiding the teeth that had clamped down where he had previously been standing.

The Varuga didn't miss a beat and quickly flew after the Circus fighter. Gareki continued flying the direction of the lake, worry about the explosion that had happened earlier near the lake subconsciously guiding him.

"Dammit, just die already!" Gareki yelled as he glanced over his shoulder and narrowly evaded the Varuga's claw that swiped through the air where he had previously been. This Varuga seemed to have battle experience considering it was so hard to kill, but Gareki didn't even know if Varugas were intelligent so it was hard to tell.

"Where the hell is it?" Gareki muttered to himself. He was sure that he had been flying in the direction of the lake but the body of water was nowhere to be seen. The surrounding trees all looked the same, so there was no way of even proving that he was heading in the right direction. Gareki gritted his teeth in frustration.

"This is getting—ah!" A sudden force from above struck his upper back and knocked him out of the air. Unprepared for the landing, Gareki tumbled through the snow until he came to a rest on his stomach, the cold biting into his exposed face and hands.

Gareki coughed as he lifted himself from the ground, spitting out the snow that had gotten into his mouth in his fall. As he glanced up, the teen's eyes widened in surprise when in front of him stood not trees, but a tall, old looking mansion.

The young Circus fighter could sense the Varuga lingering around the edges of his senses, not quite close enough where it could attack immediately but close enough to pose a danger. Curious as to why it suddenly backed off but not wanting to take the chance of confronting it again, he ran inside the slightly parted doors of the mansion.

The doors creaked loudly as Gareki pulled them further open and slipped inside. The building was dark, only lit by the natural light that came from the large windows that lined the outside walls. A light layer of dust rested on the furniture showing the mansion's lack of occupation.

"Why would there be such a nicely built mansion in the middle of nowhere?" Gareki quietly questioned to nobody in particular. He ran his hand along the dusty table in the entrance hall as he walked by, leaving a trail in his wake.

Gareki winced as his arm throbbed in pain. Now that the adrenaline was starting the wear off, the pain in his arm was getting more and more intense. Gareki lifted the torn sleeve of his coat to reveal a bruised and bloody arm. He tried to tighten his hand into a fist but his grip was weak.

"That's just great," Gareki said. He ripped a strip of fabric from his undershirt and wrapped it as tight as he could around the injured limb to stop the blood loss from the bite. He tightened his hand into a fist a couple more times to try to regain some strength unsuccessfully.

A sudden cold draft coming from an open door in the hall caught his attention. Out of curiosity the teen ventured over to it and pulled it open, revealing a dark staircase that led downward.

Gareki kept the gun in his hand ready as he descended the staircase, using the light from his cell phone to guide the way. The sounds of his feet shuffling on the stairs echoed off the walls with each step. The air continued to get colder the lower he went, but besides that, nothing else changed even when he reached the bottom.

The hall extended to the left and right in long dark tunnels, but a soft rattling sound led him to the left. He walked through the musty hallway until he reached the end. In front of him stood a single closed, metal door. After testing the handle, and realizing that it wasn't locked, the teen pushed the door open.

The room inside was rather large, but it was difficult to make anything out with the little light that was coming from his cell phone's screen. The rattling sound seemed to be coming from inside the room and Gareki squinted through the darkness trying to make out what was making the sound.

The room remaind still so Gareki stepped inside. As he got closer to the walls, he could see old toys and dolls resting on shelves around the room. The room didn't quite look like a children's room, it was more like an antique storage space.

"What is this—huh?" Gareki stopped walking and looked down when his foot kicked something small and metal across the floor. Shining the light from his phone in the direction of the object, a small metal cube came into view.

Gareki walked up to the strange object and picked it up. It was no bigger than his palm and a soft rattling sound was emitting from inside the metal cube. A light vibration coming from the box caused the object to shake slightly in his hold.

"What is this thing?" Gareki attempted to remove the perfectly fit lid, but his fingers wouldn't grip the metal well and it would not budge. Gareki shrugged and gave up, shoving the cube in his pocket to worry about later.

Gareki walked out of the room and was about to go back up the stairs when he noticed a small light at the other end of the hallway. The light looked like it came from outside, and since that would be the fastest way out of this creepy place, he decided to see what was at the end.

By the time he reached the door, the hallway was bright enough where he didn't need his cell phone light anymore. He slipped his cell phone back into his pocket and stepped outside the door. He had to shield his eyes from the intense light. The white snow did not make the light any easier for his eyes to adjust to.

When his eyes adjusted he noticed that he was once again standing outside in the bare forest. He looked around to get an idea of where he came out and he saw a slight glistening of a lake in the distance.

"There it is!" Gareki said as he took off running in the lake's direction. He sprinted until he reached the edge of the lake and then slowed to a stop.

Gareki panted as he looked around for the blond Circus fighter, but the lake was still and silent. A tingling in the back of his mind told him that he was forgetting something, but Gareki ignored it in favor of looking for his missing friend.

"Yogi?" Gareki shouted hoping he would get a response. He walked along the lake's edge looking for any signs of life. The snow was all upturned and scratches covered the lake's surface but neither human nor Varuga could be found.

_Wait...wasn't there a Varuga...shit!_ Gareki turned around just as the tingling of warning returned strongly, telling him that there was something dangerous behind him. Gareki's eyes widened as he faced the threat, and a Varuga's claw was inches from his face. There was no time to defend himself...he was going to...

Just as the claw touched his cheek, it was suddenly yanked to the side, leaving a long scratch across his cheek in it's place. The Varuga was forcefully pulled to the side by what looked like a long thorny vine. Gareki's eyes followed the familiar long, rope like vine and found the it's owner: Yogi.

"Yogi..." Gareki said as he watched Yogi violently tear the Varuga apart. The thorns continued rip the Varuga to pieces until there was practically nothing left.

Yogi slowly turned to Gareki once the Varuga was nothing but a bloody mess. Gareki gulped as the older man approached. The look in the man's eyes was anything but friendly, they looked more crazed.

Another thing that stood out strange about the Circus fighter was that the patch on his cheek was missing and his hair looked...white? Gareki knew for a fact that he had blond hair earlier that day, so why did it suddenly look bleach white?

"I wonder why I protected you," Yogi said as he approached a stunned Gareki. "Are you important to me, or are you just someone for me to play with?" Now within touching distance, Yogi reached out suddenly and roughly grabbed Gareki's chin, tilting his head up and pulling him closer. "You are quite attractive. So tell me, which are you?"

"Yogi!" Gareki gasped. "What's wrong with you?" He reached up and slapped Yogi's hand away but was unprepared for when Yogi instantly reacted to his movements. The next thing Gareki knew, there was a strong pain in his gut and the wind was knocked out of him.

With his strength suddenly disappearing along with his air, he was unable to keep himself standing and dropped unceremoniously to the ground. Gareki groaned, one hand went to his stomach where the pain was radiating and the other attempted to push himself off the ground. Before he could get very far in his attempt, a hand grabbed a fist full of his hair and pulled him into a kneeling position.

"Ugh!" Gareki reached up with his free hand and grabbed the arm that was holding him up, trying to relieve some of the tension on his hair.

"Yogi, stop," Gareki protested through gritted teeth, eyes watering a bit from the tight grip Yogi had on him.

"Let me play with you a bit," Yogi said as he leaned in close, an almost gentle smile on his face. Yogi's strange mood swings were starting to weird Gareki out and he was quickly running out of patience. Since Yogi seemed interested in watching Gareki's face he tightened his good hand into a fist by his side.

"Yogi, you are seriously pissing me off!" Gareki swung his fist as fast as he could and punched the man across the face. Yogi's head jerked to the side from the impact and he paused.

"Gareki?" Yogi tentatively asked. Gareki waited, unsure if he should reach out to him or not. Yogi slowly turned to look at him, his eyes weary and unsure, but familiar.

"Gareki? I'm glad...you're alright..." Yogi suddenly collapsed. Gareki quickly reached out and caught him, his body protesting from the movement.

Gareki sighed, well at least it was finally over.


End file.
